My Ninevah
"The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
- Jonah 1:1-3
We just watched the production of "Jonah" at Sight and Sound Theatres for the second time. It is a powerful performance, with so many messages for us. Although the play follows the scripture very closely, there are parts that have to be fictionalized to make it long enough to be a 2 1/2 hour production. In this play, Jonah was angry with the Ninevites because during one of their sieges his father was killed. The Bible does not state , however, why Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be spared. Although Jonah's anger at Ninevah was not mentioned in Jonah 1, we see in the fourth chapter Jonah was angry that the Lord had granted the Ninevites mercy. In chapter 4 verse 2, Jonah says:
But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD, "Isn't this what I said LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."
Jonah had spent his life striving to be close to the Lord. He had done what he felt God wanted him to do. He did not feel the Ninevites deserved mercy, and he did not want to be the one to help that happen. And yet that is exactly what did happen. God used Jonah to warn them, they turned to God, and they were spared.
We think of the story of Jonah as one that teaches us not to run away from what God is telling us to do. And that is true, that is a very important part of this story. But there is so much more to the story than that. I love how the Bible gives so many lessons to us through one simple story. We just sometimes have to dig to find those lessons.
In the play, when the people of Ninevah begin to turn to the Lord it depicts Jonah as being very angry. One of the children of the king of Ninevah asks his mother why Jonah is so angry. I love her response to him. She says, "Maybe he is angry because something he worked so hard for is being given away." Think about it. Jonah had done his best to be a man of God. And here these immoral, violent people were being granted the same mercy and grace given to Jonah. Not fair. Not fair at all.
Don't we do the same thing? Isn't it hard to see someone forgiven for hideous sin, while we sometimes watch other people, close to God all their lives, suffer things we don't understand? What about those who have hurt us deeply on a personal level? Do we really believe they deserve the same mercy we are given?
I have a Ninevah, and I bet you do too. Someone who I have felt is beyond the mercy of God....who doesn't deserve it.....who has gone too far over the line. Why on earth would I want to be a part of that person ( or those persons) receiving mercy? And yet....
Do any of us deserve the mercy of God? What particular sin places us over the line....too far gone to partake in God's mercy and grace? How many times does it take to be hopeless?
Below is a story from CBN.com that really relates to what we're talking about here. I pray I could do the same:
That was it. Laramiun was gone,” Mary Johnson said. “I’ll never see him graduate, I’ll never see him married, him have children. It seems unnatural for a parent to have to bury her child.”
On February 12th, 1993 Mary Johnson’s only son Laramiun was killed by four gunshots, during a gang related altercation. With the help of eye witnesses, detectives found a prime suspect two days later.
“I think began hatred set in right then,” Mary said.
During a police investigation, 16 year old Oshea Isreal, confessed to killing Laramiun. After two years of hearing and appeals, he was tried as an adult and convicted of 2nd degree murder. Mary addressed him during her impact statement in court.
“I said, ‘You know what, if my son had taken your life, I would expect him to have to pay the cost,’ Mary said. “And then I ended up telling him that I forgave him. The Word says in order to be forgiven, you must forgive. So I said, ‘Okay, I have to tell him.’ But I wanted him locked up, caged, because he was an animal and that is what he deserved.”
Oshea was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
“The grieving process, I think it began for me, after the trial,” Mary said, “wave after wave after wave--the tsunami--of just ‘stuff.’ Hatred. Here I am a Christian woman and I hated this 16 year old boy. And I never ever thought I would be put back together.”
After the trial, Mary went through the motions of life. She visited friends and stayed active in her church. But it would be ten long years before her emotional turmoil would end. In 2004, her pastor asked her to teach a class on forgiveness. As the studied the class book, Mary says she took a hard look at her heart.
“I’m hearing, ‘Mary, you need to repent. You need to repent for all these things that you’ve said about this young man. All these feelings that you’ve had for him,’ And, I’m like [puffs] ‘I have a right to have these feelings.’”
“Then I heard, ‘Mary, pray for him like you pray for yourself,’ I’m praying for him!
‘Okay,’ so I prayed for him like I pray for myself. Then I heard, ‘Every time his name comes up, every time you hear it within yourself, say, ‘I choose to forgive.’ So, I repented and I really believe it was a true repentance. It was for real. It was for real.”
As Mary started to change, so did the person she was praying for.
“I started coming into myself,” Oshea Isreal said. “I started maturing. With maturity, I decided that I wanted to hold myself accountable and be responsible for my actions”
In 2005, Mary took another courageous step toward healing. She contacted the department of corrections and requested a face to face meeting with Oshea.
“I have to make sure I have truly forgiven him, that I don’t have all that hatred,” Mary said.
“I can honestly say that from the moment I walked in the room, the energy level was like, peaceful,” Oshea said.
“We had a conversation; he admitted what he had done. He told me that if he could have communicated that night, things would have been different,” Mary said.
“She asked a lot of questions about myself and my life and it showed that she was interested in getting to know the person,” Oshea said.
“I said ‘Look, I told you in court that I forgave you. But today, from the bottom of my heart I want you to know that I forgive you,’ Mary said. “And he was like, ‘Ma’am how can you do that?’ I said, ‘Because of Who is in me.’”
“I felt like it was a very powerful and moving meeting,” Oshea said. “I felt extremely compelled to ask her, ‘May I give you a hug?’ to show her my genuineness.”
Mary said, “I do remember falling, and he had to hold me. He had to hold me up, until I felt this ‘thing’ leave me. And I instantly knew that all that hatred, the bitterness, the animosity, all that junk I had inside me for 12 years, I knew it was over with. It was done. Instantly, it was gone.”
Mary and Oshea continued to meet and they eventually began speaking in prisons about forgiveness and reconciliation. “The more and more we spoke, the more and more our bond started to grow,” Oshea said. “And, Mary has turned into one of my biggest supporters. She worries about me even when I’m not worried about myself. And that is something a mother does.”
Oshea was released from prison in 2010, and Mary arranged his homecoming party. “I walked in and saw all of these people that I didn’t know, w ho only knew of me because of the pain and the hurt I caused. But I walk in and get hugs. I walk in and get smiles,” Oshea said. “That is another part of the forgiveness, the community forgave me, her friends were able to forgive me.”
Today, Oshea and Mary are next door neighbors. They speak all over the country about the power of forgiveness. “I am so grateful for who I am today in God, that I am not that person that I used to be, full of all that junk,” Mary said.
“Being on the other side of forgiveness is important in my life because it made me free enough to be myself,” Oshea said. “I can really live and enjoy life. I can enjoy people. I can enjoy being home, I can enjoy laughing. Outside of that, I’ve got a huge family now.”
“Unforgiveness is a dangerous thing and I tell you when you allow the Holy Spirit to release you…oh my! What freedom! What freedom there is!” Mary said. “You’ll be amazed at where you’ll be in your life.”
Mary Johnson had a Ninevah.....someone who killed her precious child. But through the love of our God, she was able to forgive and allow a miracle to occur. Amazingly, we have a God who extends His love, mercy, and grace to anyone who will receive it. No matter what we've done, who we've been, where we are.
Do you have a Ninevah? Pray for the strength to participate in mercy for that person. We will never have the compassion and understanding of God. We will probably always have questions about His decisions to distribute His grace. Thankfully, He extends it to anyone, even me. Even you. Even Ninevah.
- Jonah 1:1-3
We just watched the production of "Jonah" at Sight and Sound Theatres for the second time. It is a powerful performance, with so many messages for us. Although the play follows the scripture very closely, there are parts that have to be fictionalized to make it long enough to be a 2 1/2 hour production. In this play, Jonah was angry with the Ninevites because during one of their sieges his father was killed. The Bible does not state , however, why Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be spared. Although Jonah's anger at Ninevah was not mentioned in Jonah 1, we see in the fourth chapter Jonah was angry that the Lord had granted the Ninevites mercy. In chapter 4 verse 2, Jonah says:
But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD, "Isn't this what I said LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity."
Jonah had spent his life striving to be close to the Lord. He had done what he felt God wanted him to do. He did not feel the Ninevites deserved mercy, and he did not want to be the one to help that happen. And yet that is exactly what did happen. God used Jonah to warn them, they turned to God, and they were spared.
We think of the story of Jonah as one that teaches us not to run away from what God is telling us to do. And that is true, that is a very important part of this story. But there is so much more to the story than that. I love how the Bible gives so many lessons to us through one simple story. We just sometimes have to dig to find those lessons.
In the play, when the people of Ninevah begin to turn to the Lord it depicts Jonah as being very angry. One of the children of the king of Ninevah asks his mother why Jonah is so angry. I love her response to him. She says, "Maybe he is angry because something he worked so hard for is being given away." Think about it. Jonah had done his best to be a man of God. And here these immoral, violent people were being granted the same mercy and grace given to Jonah. Not fair. Not fair at all.
Don't we do the same thing? Isn't it hard to see someone forgiven for hideous sin, while we sometimes watch other people, close to God all their lives, suffer things we don't understand? What about those who have hurt us deeply on a personal level? Do we really believe they deserve the same mercy we are given?
I have a Ninevah, and I bet you do too. Someone who I have felt is beyond the mercy of God....who doesn't deserve it.....who has gone too far over the line. Why on earth would I want to be a part of that person ( or those persons) receiving mercy? And yet....
Do any of us deserve the mercy of God? What particular sin places us over the line....too far gone to partake in God's mercy and grace? How many times does it take to be hopeless?
Below is a story from CBN.com that really relates to what we're talking about here. I pray I could do the same:
That was it. Laramiun was gone,” Mary Johnson said. “I’ll never see him graduate, I’ll never see him married, him have children. It seems unnatural for a parent to have to bury her child.”
On February 12th, 1993 Mary Johnson’s only son Laramiun was killed by four gunshots, during a gang related altercation. With the help of eye witnesses, detectives found a prime suspect two days later.
“I think began hatred set in right then,” Mary said.
During a police investigation, 16 year old Oshea Isreal, confessed to killing Laramiun. After two years of hearing and appeals, he was tried as an adult and convicted of 2nd degree murder. Mary addressed him during her impact statement in court.
“I said, ‘You know what, if my son had taken your life, I would expect him to have to pay the cost,’ Mary said. “And then I ended up telling him that I forgave him. The Word says in order to be forgiven, you must forgive. So I said, ‘Okay, I have to tell him.’ But I wanted him locked up, caged, because he was an animal and that is what he deserved.”
Oshea was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
“The grieving process, I think it began for me, after the trial,” Mary said, “wave after wave after wave--the tsunami--of just ‘stuff.’ Hatred. Here I am a Christian woman and I hated this 16 year old boy. And I never ever thought I would be put back together.”
After the trial, Mary went through the motions of life. She visited friends and stayed active in her church. But it would be ten long years before her emotional turmoil would end. In 2004, her pastor asked her to teach a class on forgiveness. As the studied the class book, Mary says she took a hard look at her heart.
“I’m hearing, ‘Mary, you need to repent. You need to repent for all these things that you’ve said about this young man. All these feelings that you’ve had for him,’ And, I’m like [puffs] ‘I have a right to have these feelings.’”
“Then I heard, ‘Mary, pray for him like you pray for yourself,’ I’m praying for him!
‘Okay,’ so I prayed for him like I pray for myself. Then I heard, ‘Every time his name comes up, every time you hear it within yourself, say, ‘I choose to forgive.’ So, I repented and I really believe it was a true repentance. It was for real. It was for real.”
As Mary started to change, so did the person she was praying for.
“I started coming into myself,” Oshea Isreal said. “I started maturing. With maturity, I decided that I wanted to hold myself accountable and be responsible for my actions”
In 2005, Mary took another courageous step toward healing. She contacted the department of corrections and requested a face to face meeting with Oshea.
“I have to make sure I have truly forgiven him, that I don’t have all that hatred,” Mary said.
“I can honestly say that from the moment I walked in the room, the energy level was like, peaceful,” Oshea said.
“We had a conversation; he admitted what he had done. He told me that if he could have communicated that night, things would have been different,” Mary said.
“She asked a lot of questions about myself and my life and it showed that she was interested in getting to know the person,” Oshea said.
“I said ‘Look, I told you in court that I forgave you. But today, from the bottom of my heart I want you to know that I forgive you,’ Mary said. “And he was like, ‘Ma’am how can you do that?’ I said, ‘Because of Who is in me.’”
“I felt like it was a very powerful and moving meeting,” Oshea said. “I felt extremely compelled to ask her, ‘May I give you a hug?’ to show her my genuineness.”
Mary said, “I do remember falling, and he had to hold me. He had to hold me up, until I felt this ‘thing’ leave me. And I instantly knew that all that hatred, the bitterness, the animosity, all that junk I had inside me for 12 years, I knew it was over with. It was done. Instantly, it was gone.”
Mary and Oshea continued to meet and they eventually began speaking in prisons about forgiveness and reconciliation. “The more and more we spoke, the more and more our bond started to grow,” Oshea said. “And, Mary has turned into one of my biggest supporters. She worries about me even when I’m not worried about myself. And that is something a mother does.”
Oshea was released from prison in 2010, and Mary arranged his homecoming party. “I walked in and saw all of these people that I didn’t know, w ho only knew of me because of the pain and the hurt I caused. But I walk in and get hugs. I walk in and get smiles,” Oshea said. “That is another part of the forgiveness, the community forgave me, her friends were able to forgive me.”
Today, Oshea and Mary are next door neighbors. They speak all over the country about the power of forgiveness. “I am so grateful for who I am today in God, that I am not that person that I used to be, full of all that junk,” Mary said.
“Being on the other side of forgiveness is important in my life because it made me free enough to be myself,” Oshea said. “I can really live and enjoy life. I can enjoy people. I can enjoy being home, I can enjoy laughing. Outside of that, I’ve got a huge family now.”
“Unforgiveness is a dangerous thing and I tell you when you allow the Holy Spirit to release you…oh my! What freedom! What freedom there is!” Mary said. “You’ll be amazed at where you’ll be in your life.”
Mary Johnson had a Ninevah.....someone who killed her precious child. But through the love of our God, she was able to forgive and allow a miracle to occur. Amazingly, we have a God who extends His love, mercy, and grace to anyone who will receive it. No matter what we've done, who we've been, where we are.
Do you have a Ninevah? Pray for the strength to participate in mercy for that person. We will never have the compassion and understanding of God. We will probably always have questions about His decisions to distribute His grace. Thankfully, He extends it to anyone, even me. Even you. Even Ninevah.
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