Living in the Spirit
September 15, 2020
Scripture Reading:
Jonah 3:10-4:11
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ And the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.
The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’
But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?’ And he said, ‘Yes, angry enough to die.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’
The people of Nineveh were doing evil; thus, God sent Jonah to proclaim what would happen to them if they did not repent, and they repented. Jonah was not happy with God because, I guess, Jonah thought God had made Jonah look bad when in actuality, he had been highly successful. God is very forgiving; humans like to exact punishment. We have the same problem in our justice system today. There is a great debate in our treatment of persons found guilty of crimes, whether they are provided restorative justice or punishment. God chose to provide restorative justice. We are called to follow God’s path.
On the side of continuing lifetime punishment for any felony one might have committed, some states take away the convicted person’s right to vote for the rest of their life, even if they have served their entire sentence.
Oklahoma set the threshold for felony larceny at $500 in 2001. Felonies generally carry sentences of over one year in prison. However, for property theft between $500 and $1,000, the Legislature set the sentence to a term in county jail of up to one year*.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for being unable to forgive as you do. Restore us to wholeness so that we might be conduits of wholeness for others. Amen.
*For more information about allowing felons to vote see, https://oklahomawatch.org/2018/06/18/after-prison-many-oklahomans-are-prohibited-from-voting-for-years/
For information on all crimes in Oklahoma, see 2006 Oklahoma Code – Title 21. — Crimes and Punishments
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.