Resentment
Proper 20
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The book of Jonah is the fourth shortest book in the Bible. Just 48 verses among its four chapters, it nevertheless is easily the most memorable of the twelve minor prophets. His encounter with the whale or “great fish” is probably in just about every children’s Bible and Sunday school curriculum. I expect most of us know it. If you do not, the entire book is only about a page and a half in our pew Bibles, and you just heard about a quarter of it. It doesn’t take long to read, but it may take some time to reflect on his story and what his experience teaches us about God and ourselves.
This morning we heard the final scene. Having repented of trying to flee from God’s command and being spat out of the great fish onto dry land, Jonah does as God instructed. (We assume after a bath and freshening up a bit.) He goes to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, to warn them to repent and turn to God, or God would destroy their city.
Nineveh repents. Their king sends out a decree that he and all the people and all their livestock must fast from food and drink. It doesn’t say how long, but they did and we picked up with God’s response. He changes his mind. No calamity, life is back to normal for them.
Why, then, is Jonah upset and angry? I mean, he’s really angry. He tells God, “Just take me now! This is why I ran away in the first place, because I knew you were slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!” People get mad over all sorts of issues, but mercy, patience and steadfast love aren’t usually a problem.
It may be that he wanted to be a prophet like Elijah, who about 100 years earlier, challenged 400 prophets of Ba’al to prove whose God was true, defeated them and then killed them. Maybe he wanted something dramatic and memorable like that. Instead, he gets remembered for running from God in the first place, repenting, then becoming a big ball of resentment when people actually listen to him and do what he says. God teaches him a lesson with the bush, and then the story abruptly ends. There is no last response from Jonah, just God saying essentially, “What’s wrong with you?”
What’s wrong is resentment. Resentment is very self-destructive and can easily poison a family or community. It’s rooted in failure to follow the tenth Commandment, to not covet. And it bears the fruit of sin: bitterness, anger, envy, and jealousy. Our Lord calls us to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Resentment disrupts our proper love for God and each other. It can destroy relationships. It can destroy families. It can destroy communities.
It goes all the way back to Genesis, to Cain and Abel. The Lord had regard for Abel’s offering but not Cain’s. Cain grew resentful. The Lord warned him, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’ (Genesis 4:7) Resentment ruined his love for God and he killed his own brother over it. We see what it did to Jonah. Like all sin, resentment, especially toward God, cannot be a part of the Kingdom.
This is precisely what Jesus is getting at in this parable. The laborers had agreed to the day’s wages. They received them. Yet, because others had come later and received the same pay, they grumble. Resentment will say, “I deserve more. I could have lain around all day! The landowner rewards laziness! If only I had known!”
This parable is shared in response to Peter’s question about the 12 disciples’ role in the Kingdom. Jesus said just before it, “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Consider that in light of the Jewish people who had, at that point, been witnesses to the One true God for roughly 2,000 years. They wrestled with that burden among all the pagan beliefs around them for centuries. It has been difficult. They have failed and been restored many times, suffered slavery and been overrun by many empires and enemies.
And now Jesus is inviting everyone, all of those gentiles, to the party? He is being gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love?
Some of us have been with Jesus our whole lives. Others are inquiring, others fairly new or returning to embrace and explore our faith, and we are each in our own place somewhere along that plane.
But the Lord really only has one generous wage to pay, one amazing gift to give: himself. That’s what he has to give whether you come early or come late. Just come. His promise goes something like, “I have provided for you. When you receive my son and call him Lord, you are reconciled with me.”
I cannot imagine anyone actually getting resentful because an older person receives Christ late in life. At Bible study last Tuesday, a woman shared how her mother had been baptized at 99! How cool is that? The oldest person I’ve baptized was in his 80’s. (He struggled a little when I picked him up.) Such stories bring nothing but joy every time I hear or share them. Lost is bad and found is always good when it comes to the Lord. The younger the better, simply because its longer and the blessings come longer.
Which brings us to young master Holland Paxton. He’s just a few months old and we are thrilled at the prospect of him knowing Jesus his whole life in this world and forever. It is the best thing, the rock and guide that will always give him life.
That joy circulating among us now, that joy we will express when we ring bells as we welcome him into Christ’s body, the Church, drives away resentment. When you feel resentment creeping into your mind, refocus on the joy of Christ’s gift to you, and try to desire that for the other person. Let God pluck it from your heart and save you from its dangers.
AMEN!