The Compassion of God

Hello, everybody.

Thank you, Sean, for the wonderful introduction.

If you don't know me, my name's Charlie,

and as Sean said, I'm married to my wonderful wife, Stephanie,

and we have a daughter who's almost two,

and her name's Eleonora, and she is just the cutest I am.

As Sean said, a software engineer by day

and a seminarian by night.

And I wanted to thank Sean for giving me this opportunity

and entrusting his precious flock to me this morning.

So with that, let's begin by praying

for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Our Heavenly Father, may I, by your Holy Spirit,

communicate your truth faithfully and effectively this day.

May the words that come out of my mouth follow your truth,

and may that truth sanctify us here.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

So today's text will be from Jonah 4.

And while you go flip to it in your Bibles

or go to it on your phones,

let me give a quick introduction.

Now, Jonah almost needs no introduction

because most of you are familiar with it.

If you grew up in the church

or even are familiar with anything about the Bible,

you've heard of Jonah and the whale.

And whether you're familiar or not,

I think it's important to give some context to the passage.

Jonah was one of the minor prophets,

minor just because he wrote less that's recorded in the scriptures.

And he worked around the time of 770 BC.

And we know this because there's a reference to him in 2 Kings 1425.

The book of Jonah starts with the word of the Lord coming to Jonah,

the son of Amittai,

and telling him to go to Nineveh, a great city,

and call out against it,

for their evil has come up against,

or come up before me, the Lord.

So Jonah is told to go to the Ninevites.

And who are the Ninevites?

Well, they were, Nineveh was the capital of Assyria.

And Assyria was one of the neighboring nations of Israel,

but also one of their fiercest and cruelest enemies.

The Assyrians were brutal and wicked people known for bloody conquest

and would later even capture, enslave, and exile

the entire northern kingdom of Israel.

So Jonah's not interested.

Instead of listening to God,

he goes in the opposite direction.

And Nineveh was, you know,

far to the east of Israel,

and Tarshish was in Spain, far to the west.

So basically he went to the other side of the known world.

He books a ship,

but he finds out that running away from God is quite hard to do.

The Lord sends a great storm upon him.

And, you know, the sailors,

they try to save their ship by tossing out the cargo.

And when they finally realize Jonah's the one at fault,

they don't want to toss him over.

But Jonah says, like, it's the only way to survive.

So Jonah ends up in the waves.

He expects to drown, but God saves him.

He appoints a great fish,

probably not a whale according to the word,

but a great fish that swallows him up,

keeps him alive in its belly for three days and three nights.

Within the belly of the whale,

we read about Jonah's, or Jonah prays to the Lord.

And we have this recorded to us in Jonah 2.

He calls out to the Lord.

He thanks him for saving him.

And he dedicates himself to the Lord,

saying, I will pay what I have vowed.

So God commands the fish to spit Jonah back up onto the dry land.

And you see at the beginning of verse, or chapter three,

that the word of the Lord comes again to Jonah the second time

and going to tell him to go to Nineveh, the great city.

So he goes to the city.

He walks through it.

He preaches a very short message.

Yet in 40 days, the city will be overthrown.

And sure enough, the city repents.

The news reaches the king.

There is a citywide fast and man to beast,

all refrain from food and water.

Mankind turns from his or her evil ways.

And sure enough, God relents.

So that brings us here to Jonah 4.

So if you're willing and able,

please stand for the reading of God's word.

Just for a little context,

I want to start one verse back in chapter three, verse 10.

Jonah 3.10.

When God saw what they did,

how they turned from their evil way,

God relented of the disaster he said he would do to them.

And he did not do it.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly.

And he was angry.

And he prayed to the Lord and said,

Oh Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country?

This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish.

For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love

and relenting from disaster.

Therefore now, oh Lord, please take my life from me.

For it is better for me to die than to live.

And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry?

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city

and made a booth for himself there.

He sat under it in the shade

till he should see what would become of the city.

Now the Lord God appointed a plant

and made it come up over Jonah

that it might be a shade over his head

to save him from his discomfort.

So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.

But when dawn came up the next day,

God appointed a worm that attacked the plant

so that it withered.

When the sun rose,

God appointed a scorching east wind

and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah

so that he was faint.

And he asked that he might die

and said, it is better for me to die than to live.

But God said to Jonah,

do you do well to be angry for the plant?

And he said, yes, I do well to be angry,

angry enough to die.

And the Lord said, you pity the plant

for which you did not labor,

nor did you make it grow,

which came into being in a night

and perished in a night.

And should not I pity Nineveh,

that great city in which there are

more than 120,000 persons

who do not know their right hand from their left

and also much cattle?

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

So if you grew up around the church

and you're an English speaker,

you would know that there are

at least three J names

you do not name your children.

The first is Jesus.

You know, don't call your Jesus,

your child God.

Second is Judas.

Also not a good name.

Third, Jezebel.

So boys, girls, very bad names.

And there's a few more you can add.

And I would like to add Jonah.

You know, no offense if you know a Jonah

or want to name your kid Jonah,

but I don't think it's a good name.

Just reading chapter four,

you see that he's one of the most irritable

and irrational figures in the entire scriptures.

He is disobedient, callous, fickle, vengeful,

and he's full of self-pity.

And not to mention, he's just downright angry.

I personally will not be naming

any of my children Jonah.

Yet he's here.

We have this colorful character,

this unhappy camper in scripture

that God wants us to learn from.

So this morning, I want us to learn from Jonah four.

And the truth that I want us to bring away

from today's text is that we should turn away

from our self-centered desires

and take on God's compassionate and merciful heart,

a heart shown to us in Christ Jesus.

So the first point is to put off Jonah's self-centered heart.

We'll see that in the first nine verses.

And the second is to put on God's compassionate heart

in the last two verses.

So let's start by looking at Jonah's self-centered heart.

So if you look into your Bibles

and maybe you have an ESV,

at the bottom, there is a little footnote

that will tell you that the word

displeased Jonah exceedingly,

says it was actually exceedingly evil to Jonah.

And that word evil there is a,

can be generically just used

just to describe great calamity or disaster.

And this is actually the same word

in chapter three, verse 10,

which is why I read it, you know,

God relented of the disaster.

So I want us to look at Jonah,

like how amazing it is that Jonah thinks

that God relenting of a disaster

is a disaster to him.

You know, Jonah, just by the numbers,

is probably one of the most successful evangelists

of the entire Bible.

According to the 2023 census,

Cambridge has a population

of around 118,000 people,

which is pretty close to 120K,

which is what we see in Nineveh.

So imagine you preach the gospel

to all of Cambridge,

all of Cambridge repents,

and it makes you angry.

It's a disaster.

What is going on?

Jonah tells us what's going on in verse two.

He says,

Oh Lord, is this not what I said

when I was in my country,

yet in my country?

This is why I may haste to flee to Tarshish,

for I knew that you are a gracious God

and merciful, slow to anger

and abounding in steadfast love,

relenting from disaster.

See, Jonah knows his Bibles.

He knows his Pentateuch,

his first five Bibles,

and he knows the story of Moses.

Moses is having a hard time

and he asks God,

show me your glory.

And God says,

I will show you my glory

and I will proclaim to you my name.

And he basically quotes his name.

Exodus 34,

34, 6 says,

The Lord passed before him,

Moses,

and proclaims,

The Lord, the Lord,

a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger,

abounding in steadfast love

and faithfulness.

It's in God's name

to be gracious and forgiving.

And Jonah doesn't want to have any of that.

He personally cannot stand

to see these Assyrians,

these wicked Assyrians

who had already done damage

probably already done damage

to the cities of Israel

and would one day destroy them.

He couldn't stand to see

those wicked people forgiven.

Jonah was perhaps hoping

that Nineveh would be overthrown

in the same style of Sodom and Gomorrah.

That word for Nineveh being overthrown

in chapter three, verse four,

is the same word used to describe

the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah,

where God rained sulfur and fire

out of heaven

and burned the city down,

killing everyone.

These evil Assyrians

were no better in Jonah's eyes

and they too deserved

to be overthrown.

But God relented.

And this made Jonah angry,

so angry that he wanted to die,

that he told God,

it is better for me to die

than to live.

You know, there's a lot of angry things

we can say to each other

and there's a lot of angry things

we can say to God.

And I think this is one of the greatest

and most deepest expressions

of bitterness and anger,

that telling God

that not having it the way you want it

means you might as well just die.

This expression calls back

to an episode with another prophet.

In 1 Kings 18,

we read about the prophet Elijah.

And that's also another story

about fire from heaven.

Elijah is a prophet of God

and he challenges the prophets of Baal

to show who is the real God.

Baal is an idol

and the prophets of Baal

cannot call fire down from heaven

and Elijah is able to.

And he shows that the God of Israel

is the true God

and he thinks he's done it.

But his efforts don't stick.

Just a few verses later,

Jezebel, the queen of Israel

and a Baal worshiper,

someone you shouldn't name your child after,

is completely unfazed

and she vows to kill Elijah.

So Elijah flees a day into the wilderness,

sits down under a broom tree

and says,

it is enough now, O Lord.

Take away my life.

I'm no better than my fathers.

So Elijah,

he's no better than his fathers,

probably also prophets.

They couldn't accomplish their mission.

Might as well die.

You know, it kind of,

it's kind of like a high school senior

who doesn't get their,

into their dream college

and becomes bitter and sullen

or, you know,

a guy who becomes salty

because he gets shot down by a girl.

You know,

you had dreams,

now they're gone.

Might as well lay in bed

and do nothing.

This is the same for Jonah.

This is our first look

into his self-centered,

self-focused heart.

Jonah is,

is very concerned

about his own expression of justice.

What he thinks

should happen to the Ninevites.

It's so central to who he is

that he can't stand it not happening.

It's all about Jonah, Jonah, Jonah,

and not about God.

So,

into his anger,

God speaks.

He asks them a very simple question.

Do you do well to be angry?

And I think this question

already begins to reveal

some of God's heart.

There is great patience

and wisdom in this question.

You know,

when my child is angry,

I just tell her to stop.

You know,

it doesn't work,

but,

you know,

God could easily have told Jonah,

do not be angry.

This is not befitting

a prophet of the Lord.

But I think

there is great wisdom

in this question.

One,

because it asks him

to respond

and two,

because the question itself

is so well worded.

The idea of doing well,

I think,

cuts to the core

of what anger is.

So,

anger,

when you really think about it,

is that strong emotional response

that flares up

when your standard

of right and wrong,

what's good,

worse,

well,

or good or bad,

or well or worse,

is violated.

That's what makes you angry.

You know,

I tell my daughter

that,

it actually happened this morning,

I wrote it down

and it happened this morning,

to come over to the door

and put on her shoes

because we have to go to church

and she runs off to play

and I can feel the anger boiling up

because I am her father.

She needs to honor me

and what I say goes

and she needs to obey now.

And that's what a good kid would do.

You think about road rage,

you know,

what would a good driver do?

They would obey,

they would do well

by the rules of the road

and so when they don't,

you honk at them.

You know,

sometimes,

you know,

we can also be angry at God.

We think,

we want something to happen

that's good,

you know,

I want my family to have peace.

I want,

you know,

this relationship that,

you know,

God,

you've said it's good

and you haven't given it to me

and that

makes you angry at God.

Something similar here

is going on with Jonah.

It makes him snap.

God does not do well

in his eyes

by his standard.

So God is using this question

and he's,

he's phrasing it in a way

that wrenches Jonah's finger

from pointing at God

back to himself.

So how does Jonah answer God?

Well,

he doesn't.

I mean,

some of us here

would be head over heels

to have the Lord God himself

speak in such a direct manner to us.

But Jonah,

Jonah,

Jonah just brushes him off

and continues on his own way.

In verse five,

we read that he goes out of the city

and he sets up a booth for himself

to get some shade.

Maybe he thinks that

the people will backslide.

Maybe he thinks that God

will change his mind.

It's unclear.

He's clearly not a rational guy.

But he set up a booth

for himself outside the city.

That word booth we have

in the Hebrew

is the same used

to describe the tents

that the Jews were

to make during the festival

of booths.

Nehemiah 8.15

specifically tells us

that these booths

were made of branches

of olive,

wild olive,

myrtle,

palm,

and other leafy trees.

These are basically anything

that could provide you

shelter from the sun.

And we don't know

what time of the year

Jonah takes place.

We can kind of guess

from storms and things,

but it's hard to say.

But we do know

that the area of Nineveh

can be unbelievably hot.

The ancient city of Nineveh

down to its very walls

and gates

has actually been discovered.

It's within the bounds

of the modern day city

of Mosul in Iraq.

And I took a peek

at the average high temperature

in Mosul

in July of 2023.

And the average

was about 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

And there was one day

where it reached 120.

So I need this to say

if you were going

to stick around,

then you would need

some shade.

And God actually

sends a little shade.

Verse 6 tells us

that the Lord God

appointed a plant

to come over Jonah

to be shade over his head

to save him

from his discomfort.

And he was exceedingly glad.

There's another footnote

that you probably have

in your ESV

that says that

the Hebrew is the

kikayon

or probably the

castor oil plant.

And there's the same

word for plant

we see later

in Jonah.

Some people

who are more familiar

with the KJV

might know this word

as a gourd.

A gourd.

Both of these plants

are large leafy plants.

The castor oil itself

can grow up to

10 feet tall

or more

and it had leaves

like these

nine star maple leaves

that could easily grow

18 inches in diameter.

So it was very,

very good shade.

And there must have been

something wrong

about Jonah's booth

or he must have been lazy

in putting it together

because when this plant

sprung up

it made him

very happy.

But unfortunately

for Jonah

his joy is short-lived.

When dawn comes up

the next day

God appoints a worm

that attacks the plant

and it withers.

And then the sun rises

and a scorching

east wind comes.

These east winds

would likely have picked up

a great amount of heat

just from traveling

over hot deserts.

There's a similar wind

it's called the Sirocco

it's kind of famous

it goes over the

Mediterranean

sorry the Sahara

into the Mediterranean

and it's known to pick up

enough heat and sand

and speed

that it actually strips

paint from cars.

Like that's how awful

this wind is.

So you know

I know it's like

20 degrees now

but try to imagine

the feeling of being

like on a hot beach

and when you take off

your flip-flops

and you step in the

burning sand

well that's how

Jonah's face felt.

verse 8 reads

that he was so

so faint

that he asked

the Lord again

that he might die

and he said

it's better for me

to die than to live.

And again

God responds

in a very similar fashion

in verse 9

he says

do you do well

to be angry

for the plant?

God asks

essentially

the same exact question

but this time

just about the plant.

Now as a

general Bible study

and interpretation

tip

when you see

something repeated

especially almost verbatim

and especially

in a narrative

that's a sign

from the author

to pay attention

to what's happening here.

It's kind of like

when you have

like a part of a

theme song

or a motif of a song

that plays

at various parts

of a movie

to tie things together

it's something

that sticks out

that's meant

to catch our attention

and here

what sticks out

is that

God finally catches

Jonah's attention.

First Jonah

doesn't actually

answer God

but this time

he does

and what does he say?

Yes.

He admits it.

I do well to be angry.

Angry enough to die.

So there is something

sad about

seeing plants die

if you walk along

Cambridge Street

you know the city

of Cambridge

puts out

these flower pots

that in the spring

that they have to

take down every winter

because they brown

and willed

and become really depressing

and there might be

a little bit of that

happening here with Jonah

but I think it's clear

from the context

that the plant

was important to him

because it gave him shade.

You know his fickle heart

had just easily

just attached itself

to that well-being

of the plant

because it gave him

so much well-being.

You know you can imagine

if you went to Chipotle

and got an extra

you know

got an extra burrito bowl

and you know

you dropped by your friends

and you gave it to them

and they get angry at you

and you're like

what's going on?

They're like

you didn't give me

the free tortilla

and you're like

come on man

like it was free

like why does this

matter to you

all of a sudden?

Like this isn't something

to get worked up over.

I imagine that's how

Jonah is feeling

for this plant

and the plant withers

and so does Jonah

and finally he's willing

to speak to God.

I want to take

a little time here

and just

talk about the sovereignty

of God

and how he does work

to get

not just Jonah's attention

but also

our attention.

Over and over again

in this book

God demonstrates

his sovereignty

on full display.

Storms, seas

and big fish

all listen to him

and now

plants, worms, winds

and the sun itself

all move

to make Jonah

angry.

And

I do want to

say that

God is

not tempted

with evil.

He is not

does not do any evil

and nor can he be

tempted by evil

nor does he tempt us

but he can

allow us to be

tempted.

And so here

with regard to

the temptation

to anger

we see him

working

with Jonah.

Now have you

ever considered

in your own life

that maybe

God is trying

to get you

your attention

through something

that's making you angry?

are there

scorching winds

and searing suns

in your life?

One common

source of anger

I think

are people

who refuse

to follow

our schedules

and our times.

Nothing is more

responsive than

an unresponsive

nothing is more

frustrating than

an unresponsive

boss

or

an advisor

an unresponsive

child.

God could be

letting those

people into

your life

to expose

your idol

of control

of wanting

to have

everything

your way

when everything

should go

God's way.

See before this

this was a

one way

conversation

between Jonah

and God.

He spoke

didn't care

if God

had anything

to say

and

so

God might

be

sending

things

in your

life

to get

you to

pay

attention

to

what

he's

saying.

You might

be sitting

here

and you

might

think

I don't

really

struggle

with

anger

not as

angry

as Jonah

not angry

enough

to die

but

anger

wears

many masks

and each

of these

different

types

of anger

actually

points

to a

different

heart

issue

or

very

similar

heart

issues.

For

example

annoyance.

We are

annoyed

when

people

who

are

just

beneath

us

not

worth

our

time

take

up

our

time.

I

think

that

points

to

pride

in our

hearts

because

we

think

our

time

is

so

valuable

and

everything

else

is

below

our

pay

grade.

Bitterness

points

to

a

slow

simmering

anger

that

often

represents

discontentment.

I use

the word

frustration

before.

Frustration

is often

just a

politically

correct

and

conversationally

friendly

way to

say

you're

angry.

Kosher.

And

it's also

important to

point out

that

one of the

realities

of anger

is that

when we

are angry

with fellow

man

or with

our

situations

we're

actually

being angry

with God.

You think

about jealousy.

Are you

jealous

over

someone's

position

over

someone's

relationship

of how

things are

going in

their lives?

Well

that's

actually

anger

directed

at

God

for

saying

they

have

something

God

why

can't

you

give

me

that

same

thing?

Here

we see

Jonah's

anger

as a sign

that his

heart

was not

aligned

with God's.

But God

wants your

heart

to be

like his

to love

what is

good

like he

does.

And so

he reveals

his heart

to us

in these

last two

verses.

So in

verses 9

and 10

we see

God's

call to

put on

his

own

compassionate

heart.

The Lord

responds

to Jonah

now we

have a

conversation

and the

Lord said

you pity

the plant

for which

you did

not labor

nor did

you make

it grow

which came

into being

into a

night

and perished

in a

night.

And should

not I

pity

Nineveh

that great

city in

which there

are more

than 120

thousand

persons

who do

not know

their right

hand

from their

left

and also

much

cattle.

In these

verses

God gets

to the

crux

of the

issue

the

heart

of the

matter

the

heart

of the

book

of

Jonah

you know

some

people

you can

imagine

Jonah

easily

ending

at

the

end

of

chapter

three

and it

would

have

been

a

nice

little

story

but this

is

what

it's

actually

about

it's

about

the

hearts

you know

God

says to

Jonah

you didn't

work

for the

plant

you didn't

do the

toil

and labor

that it

takes

to make

a

plant

some

of

them

have

been

with

us

for

like

eight

years

they've

been

through

ups

and downs

and we've

watered

them

like every

two

weeks

for

eight

years

and

they

have

sentimental

value

to me

but

Jonah

Jonah's

been

with

this

plant

for

like

a

day

plants

also come

and go

like a

breath

we saw

in I

think

the

call

to

worship

Psalm

103

and

also

Jesus

mentions

in the

Sermon

on the

mount

plants

being alive

today

thrown

into

the

fire

the

next

they

just

come

and

go

they're

gone

so

Jonah

if

you're

going to

have

so much

pity

for

this

plant

which

isn't

worth

much

anyways

and

it's

not

worth

much

to

you

then

shouldn't

I

have

pity

for

Nineveh

also

you

see

this

mention

in

verse

11

of

120,000

persons

who do

not

know

the

right

from

the

left

some

commentators

take

this

to say

that

it's

and

some

other

commentators

also

believe

that

this

is

a

reference

to

people

who

are

morally

lost

in

general

who

do

not

know

God

and

that

two

word

pair

of

knowing

between

occurs

in

2

Samuel

1935

where

an

80

year

old

man

says

can I

not

discern

between

what

is

pleasant

and

not

and

he's

actually

being

rhetorical

because

he's

too old

to

enjoy

music

and

food

and

also

Ecclesiastes

10

when you

see

in

the

Bible

a

contrast

between

the

right

hand

and

the

left

hand

not

just

talking

about

both

hands

but

a

contrast

then

usually

the

right

hand

is

the

good

hand

and

the

left

hand

is

the

negative

hand

so

I

think

this

is

just

a

reference

to

all

the

people

there

in

the

city

who

do

not

know

God

and

you

know

though

they

may

be

lost

and

they

may

be

wicked

every

single

one

of

those

people

was

still

according

to

Psalm

103

fearfully

and

wonderfully

made

by

God

knit

together

in

their

mother's

womb

on top

of that

God

has put

his

image

into

man

every

single

one

of

those

120

thousand

people

is

a

slice

of

God's

infinite

glory

and

worth

he

cares

for

them

he

even

cares

for

the

cattle

the

wildlife

you

know

they

aren't

as

important

as

humans

like

we

eat

beef

God

tells

us

we

can

eat

the

animals

in

Noah

6

or

sorry

Genesis

after

the

flood

but

he

still

created

them

on

the

sixth

day

he

made

the

animals

and

he

saw

that

they

were

good

he

tells

Adam

to

name

them

and

then

he

tells

Adam

to

steward

them

to

make

them

multiply

so

even

the

cattle

the

cows

have

a

place

in

God's

heart

and

I

think

it's

obvious

to

all

of

us

here

that

human

life

is

more

valuable

than

plants

no one

thinks

twice

about

eating

a

salad

or

feeding

your

cow

hay

but

on the

other

hand

we

have

Jonah

Jonah

Jonah

in

spite

of

the

fact

there

are

so

many

people

in

this

city

even

cattle

Jonah

only

cares

about

himself

look

at

the

phrase

that

uses

in

verse

6

exceedingly

glad

you

might

have

noticed

that

repetition

I

told

you

to

look

out

for

that

exceedingly

glad

is

actually

the

Hebrew

construct

is the

same

as

in

verse

1

where

we

see

it

displeased

Jonah

exceedingly

and I

think

what the

author

wants

to see

is the

irony

of

the

situation

Jonah

was

exceedingly

angry

when God

would not

destroy

the city

full of

people

precious

people

made

in the

image

of

God

but

he

was

exceedingly

glad

or

yes

when

God

saved

him

just

from

a

little

heat

he

was

angry

angry

enough

to

die

because

God

removed

a

little

shade

from

him

and

angry

angry

enough

to

die

because

God

would

not

rain

fire

on

the

Ninevites

what a

guy

but

it's

easy

for our

hearts

to also

make

this

miscalculation

as a

parent

it's

easy

to be

mad

at

children

for

example

you

know

we

can

pity

our

sleep

our

time

our

comfort

these

are

all

things

that

children

have

no

pity

for

and

we

can

be

exceedingly

angry

when

children

take

those

things

from

us

instead

of

being

exceedingly

glad

that

we

have

children

they're

precious

in

the

sight

of

God

another

thing

that

magnifies

the

irony

of

this

situation

is

that

God

had

given

Jonah

a

second

chance

I

mean

even

the

sailors

they

didn't

want

to

throw

him

off

but

God

gives

him

a

second

chance

after

he

is

disobedient

he

saves

him

from

the

storm

and

recommissions

him

but

Jonah

will

not

extend

that

grace

to

others

he

simply

does

not

do

well

to

be

angry

so

what

does

he

do

verse

12

tells

us

that

Jonah

repented

blessed

Nineveh

and

returned

to

Israel

actually

verse

12

says

Jonah

cursed

God

in

his

heart

and

died

there

of

heat

stroke

I'm

kidding

I'm

not

adding

to

the

scriptures

I'm

not

cursed

we're

left

with

this

cliffhanger

for

a

reason

and

the

reason

is

the

reason

we

don't

know

what

happens

to

Jonah

is

because

the

author

is

not

concerned

with

that

what

we

do

need

to

know

is

that

Jonah

is

given

a

choice

so

I