We Are All Just Like Jonah: When We Refuse to Give Grace

The story of Jonah hits close to home for those of us living in the Keweenaw.

Jonah was a prophet who knew the truth. He had sisu — that gritty Finnish determination that built mining towns, cleared land, and endured brutal winters. He was zealous, committed, and bold. But when God told him to go to the wicked city of Nineveh and preach a message that might lead to their repentance and forgiveness, Jonah ran the opposite direction. He got on a ship headed for Tarshish. Why? Because he did not want those people to receive grace.

We do the exact same thing.

We nurse bitterness toward the person who hurt us. We write off the coworker, the family member, the neighbor, or the student at Michigan Tech whose life looks like a mess. We secretly hope certain people finally get what’s coming to them. We draw lines between “us” and “them,” convinced that some sins are too great, some people too far gone, and some groups simply unworthy of mercy.

Just like Jonah.

The Heart That Refuses Grace

Jonah’s problem wasn’t that he lacked knowledge of God’s word. After being swallowed by the fish, after preaching to Nineveh, and after seeing the entire city repent in sackcloth and ashes, Jonah still became angry when God showed them compassion. He complained:

“I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” (Jonah 4:2)

He knew the character of God — and he hated it when that grace was extended to the “wrong” people.

This same Jonah-heart shows up in our daily lives in the Keweenaw. We see a brother or sister (literally any other human) in need — struggling with addiction, broken relationships, financial ruin, mental health, or the weight of past sin — and we pass by on the other side. We think, “They brought this on themselves.” “They need to clean up their act first.” “I don’t have time for that drama.”

We are Jonah.

When “Keep the Law” or “Get Forgiveness from the Pastor” Makes Us Jonah

We reveal our Jonah hearts even more clearly in how we think about forgiveness and the Christian life.

Whenever we believe “You have to keep the law to be acceptable to God,” we are Jonah. We turn the gospel into a new law: clean yourself up, prove you’re serious, then maybe God (and the church) will accept you. This is moralism dressed up as Christianity. It forgets that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone — not by our performance.

Whenever we act like people must “receive forgiveness from the pastor” in some official, ritualistic way before they can be assured of God’s mercy, we are Jonah. We place ourselves (or the church) as gatekeepers of grace instead of servants who simply point people to Christ. The gospel declares that forgiveness is received directly from God through faith in Jesus. No middleman required.

Both attitudes flow from the same self-righteous root: we want to control who gets grace and under what conditions. We want the Ninevites (or the people in our own lives) to earn it first. Jonah would approve.

The Greater Jonah Has Come

Jesus is the true and better Jonah. Where Jonah ran away from the people who needed grace, Jesus ran toward us. While we were still rebels and enemies, Christ went to the cross. He did not wait for us to clean up our lives. He died for us in our worst state.

Because we have received this kind of outrageous mercy, God now calls us to extend it freely. Paul commands us:

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

This is not cheap grace or sentimental tolerance. It is costly. It requires us to die to pride, to our sense of superiority, and to the comfortable distance we prefer to keep from messy people. It means being willing to be weak — to enter into someone else’s pain, listen to their story, speak truth in love, and walk with them toward Christ.

In the Keweenaw, this has very practical implications. It means:

• Choosing forgiveness over bitterness when a family member fails again.
• Reaching out to the struggling student at MTU instead of writing them off.
• Caring for the veteran, the miner who lost his job, or the neighbor battling addiction — instead of crossing to the other side of the street.
• Repenting of the attitude that says “They need to keep the rules first” and instead proclaiming the free grace of Christ.

Grace for a Jonah-Like People

What would it look like for Christ the King Church to be known as a place that refuses to be like Jonah? A community where former enemies become brothers and sisters? Where the “unforgivable” find forgiveness because they met Jesus here? Where we actually believe that God’s mercy is bigger than anyone’s past?

It starts with honest self-examination. Repent of your Jonah heart. Ask the Lord to give you His compassion for the very people you least want to love. Then step into the messy, beautiful, long-term work of forgiving as you have been forgiven — in the context of the local church.

We are all just like Jonah. But thanks be to God — we are not left there. The same mercy that rescued Jonah, that rescued us, can transform us into people who freely give what we have freely received.

If you find yourself running from grace — either refusing to receive it or refusing to give it — there is hope. Come to Christ. Come to His people. The God who pitied Nineveh has not run out of compassion for the Keweenaw.