(Lights up. The Molue jolts. The old man steadies himself, eyes sweeping across the passengers.)
#OldManInTheMolue:
Brethren…
We often miss the story of Jonah.
(He leans forward, voice low, confidential.)
He said as the doors of the Molue were closed—
figuratively speaking, of course: Molues have no doors!
Long before the drama in the belly of the fish, Jonah was already chosen.
Scripture names him in 2 Kings 14:25—
a servant of the Lord, a prophet from Gath-hepher,
one who spoke the word of God in the reign of Jeroboam II.
So when the book of Jonah begins with:
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai…” (Jonah 1:1)
…it’s not introducing a novice.
This was a seasoned prophet.
A man who knew the Lord.
A man trusted to carry His word.
The Real Sin
We’ve been told Jonah’s sin was disobedience.
And yes—true.
But behind the disobedience was something deeper:
Anger. Hatred. Bitterness.
Toward Nineveh.
Yes, Nineveh was wicked.
Yes, they were violent.
But God wanted to forgive them.
He wanted to give them a chance to turn—to live.
Jonah?
Jonah wanted them destroyed.
What Was Nineveh’s Crime?
God named it:
Wickedness (Jonah 1:2)
Evil and Violence (Jonah 3:8)
The Hebrew word there is ḥāmās —
injustice, cruelty, oppression.
The Assyrians were infamous for:
cruelty in war,
deportations and slavery,
oppression of the weak,
arrogance and idolatry.
The prophet Nahum would later call Nineveh
“a city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims.” (Nahum 3:1)
Their sins were real.
Their violence systemic.
Their injustice legendary.
But God…
God is always on the side of suffering humanity.
(Pauses, softens)
I first heard that phrase on the BBC World Service forty years ago.
It never left me.
God is heart-to-heart with us—
especially when we are shunned, hated, misused, looked down upon,
beaten, spat upon, trampled.
And so, in mercy, He called Jonah:
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1–2)
Why did God care about people whose gods could not save them?
Because He is ALL God—ALL by Himself.
His mercy is not tribal.
His jurisdiction is not small.
The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.
Jonah’s Flight
And what did Jonah do?
He ran.
Not because he was afraid.
But because he hated them.
He feared not their spears—
he feared their repentance.
He feared they would listen.
He feared they would turn.
And if they turned, God would forgive.
Jonah did not want them saved.
He wanted them destroyed—by God’s own hand.
When God showed them mercy?
Jonah was angry enough to die.
(He sighs deeply, head bowed.)
The Mirror
Do you see the mirror here?
Some sects today act like Jonah.
They pray for the destruction of those they despise.
They cheer when enemies suffer.
They hate the mercy of God when it crosses the fence of their prejudice.
Jonah wanted God to act as his executioner.
Are we not guilty of the same?
The Cutting Question
What sins today, committed by those we condemn,
could possibly outweigh the cruelty of Nineveh—
its plunder, its systemic injustice, its arrogance?
And if Nineveh, in its wickedness,
had also persecuted the “sexually immoral” with zeal—
would that have pleased God enough to cancel Jonah’s mission?
(He pauses. Looks straight ahead.)
“Oh look! They hate the ones I hate. We’re good!”
Ya think?
(He smiles sadly.)
I don’t need to conclude.
The lesson preaches itself.
The Greater Jonah
Jesus Himself invoked Jonah’s name:
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish,
so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40)
But see the contrast:
Jonah ran from sinners.
Jesus ran toward them.
Jonah hated mercy.
Jesus became mercy.
Jonah longed for destruction.
Jesus prayed from the Cross:
“Father, forgive them.”
The shadow of Jonah points to the glory of Christ.
Jonah or Jesus?
If God’s mercy was wide enough to cover Nineveh,
wide enough to cover Jonah’s prejudice,
wide enough to cover you and me…
Then maybe the only unforgivable posture
is to sit like Jonah—arms folded—hating mercy.
(He rises slowly, gazing out as though over the city of Lagos—or Nineveh.)
Having heard the story of Jonah
and the gospel of Christ,
let us not walk in Jonah’s bitterness,
but instead be like Christ.
(Beat.)
I rest.
— Don Kenobi
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