Most of us know the story of Jonah from our childhood. Jonah did not do what God wanted so God sent a whale to swallow Jonah and teach him a lesson.  Jonah did what God wanted and the Ninevites were saved and everyone lived happily ever after. Good story, let’s all go back to our cozy homes with our homogenized friends and live our safe little lives.

But wait, there’s more. God wanted more for Jonah than his safe little world. But Jonah could not see beyond the world he knew. Jonah never learned to love the Ninevites, to love his enemies. He knew Israel was God’s people. He knew he was God’s prophet. He did not know this want of God to include the other. He could not understand why God would want to save the whole world when Jonah thought God had all he needed in Jonah and the Israelites.

I see myself in Jonah; in the busyness of my life and the comfort of my friends. In my faith that I am safe in my salvation with my God. But sometimes I feel a longing for something more. What am I longing for? What more is there?

Maybe I’m longing for a world where we all love our enemies just a little more. Maybe I’m longing for a world where beauty shines a little more and death and destruction a little less. Maybe I’m longing for a world where children laugh and play in safety without worrying about the bombs falling from the sky or where their next meal is coming from.  Maybe I’m longing for a world where I smile at the stranger on my street instead of being afraid because of the color of his skin or that he will take what is rightfully mine. Maybe I am longing for a world where we all follow God’s example.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. – John 3:16-17

For me the answer to this longing lies in the story we will hear again tomorrow on Easter Sunday; in the resurrected Jesus and the promise of the new creation that is coming.

Until he returns let me move steadfastly towards the perfection that he is and love my enemies a little more and create beauty a little more and protect the children a little more. Until every tear is dried let my tears connect me to all my brothers and sisters and to the piercing beauty amid the chaos and brokenness of this fallen world.

Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. – Revelation 21:3-4