Jonah's Attitude as a Missionary

We can learn from the Book of Jonah about a missionary's attitude since he embodies almost all that a missionary's attitude should not be. In an occasional series on this topic I suggest some areas where we should search our own hearts about how we view our mission field.

Jonah's disdain for the Assyrians bordered on outright hatred. He was trained in the culture of Israel in his day to look upon the Assyrians as those who had brutally treated his people and whose lifestyle was the height of wickedness (Jonah 1:2) The thought of even speaking to the Assyrians about turning to the God of Israel was revolting to him. He would rather see the city of Nineveh destroyed and thousands of women and children die than give them the benefit of hearing about God's offer of mercy. He made the clear choice to act on his prejudice and disobey God by running in the opposite direction. (Jonah 1:3)

The total destruction of a large city and all its inhabitants whose fate depended on him didn't seem to bother him. When the people did turn to the LORD he was angry with God because things didn't go as he thought they should have. (Jonah 4:1) The book ends with Jonah showing more compassion on a wilted plant than on people. (Jonah 4:9-11)

Is it possible that our prejudice could determine who we witness to or how far we are willing to go out of our way to share the Gospel? A missionary attitude is one that sees individuals as those in need of hearing about Jesus Christ, regardless of what they have done, what they look like, where they are from, how they are dressed, etc. How sad it is to visit a missionary in a foreign country and hear them speak about "those people" in a disparaging or condescending way. We can do the same thing when we rationalize avoiding certain parts of town in our door-to-door ministry or emphasize a preference for going to countries that are "like us" to share the Gospel. God is not a respecter of persons (II Chronicles 19:7) and desires that we see people the same way. (James 2:1; 3:13-18)

Lack of compassion is evident in Jonah’s ability to walk away from an opportunity to tell the people of Nineveh about the One True God who was willing to forgive them and spare them if they repented. The fact that he didn’t care is both amazing and puzzling. How could we look at such an opportunity and walk away in the opposite direction? As those who have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:18-19) we must approach our mission field with real compassion and caring.

Beyond lack of compassion is Jonah’s attitude of insensitivity and indifference. He was open in his refusal to obey God and it was even a hindrance to his testimony before the pagan sailors. (Jonah 1:10) When we leave our country to go to a people for whom Christ died we need to be sensitive to their spiritual needs. When a people are steeped in a culture of immorality and enslaved to pagan religions systems we need to be sensitive to them as individual souls in need of a Savior. It might be easy to be so repulsed by a people’s sin that we think they are not “worthy” of our suffering to tell them how they can be saved from their sin. But that did not keep Jesus Christ from suffering death on the cross to pay for our sins, did it? (Romans 5:8)

What do you think about Jonah as a counter-example of a missionary? There are more things we can learn from him but let me know and I’ll post other thoughts later. Comment below or e-mail me at mvetter@gdmmissions.org