09/22/2026
We know how the story of Jonah starts: Jonah is called to prophesy to Nineveh, but instead runs away on a boat, swallowed by a big fish, spat out by said fish, and finally winds up in Nineveh, where he does his job.
But the story doesn’t end there.
The Ninevites repent like no other group in the Bible. Even the animals put on sackcloth!
And God responds to Nineveh with mercy.
While Jonah responds to God’s mercy with a tantrum.
Angry that Nineveh’s destruction was canceled, he parks himself on a nearby hillside in protest.
God grows a bush to shade Jonah, then has a worm eat it.
Feeling entitled to both his desire for violence and this shrub, Jonah tells God he’s angry enough about the plant to die.
The story ends with God’s question: shouldn’t God care more about a city full of people and animals than a shrub?
It’s an intentionally humorous story, but it’s also deeply relatable.
In our conversation, Ivan and Herman pointed out that Jonah is behaving like an addict.
He isolates himself, refuses to take feedback—much less accountability—and clings to lies of entitlement far past the point of absurdity.
The deeper we dig ourselves, the more impossible getting out of the hole feels, and the more overwhelming it becomes to acknowledge that we’re in what Herman calls ‘the pit.’
We quickly think of substance abuse, but it’s also true of our less-discussed addictions to violence. To revenge. To being ‘right’ and knowing for sure who’s ‘wrong.’ To all the systems of ‘-isms’ that provide a sense of security at the cost of our humanity.
Our addictions cut us down into bitterness, narrowing our understanding until we can only perceive what will or won’t keep us comfortable, what will or won’t get us that next fix.
They cut us off from wonder, from the ability to perceive new things, to grow and change and experience the aliveness of God’s grace.
Thankfully, God does not abandon Nineveh.
God doesn’t abandon Jonah.
And God never, ever gives up on loving all of us into the justice of healing and wholeness.
