God Forgives When We Can't

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Jonah 3:10-4:11

    As a parent of two children, I have learned it is very, very difficult to be completely fair.  My husband Rich tries his best:  if we have the kids split a can of soda, he weighs the drinks on a scale so each child gets EXACTLY the same amount – same thing with splitting a piece of cake or a cookie.  We have a timer for screen time – each kid gets 30 minutes a day.  We take turns with household chores so everyone does their fair share.  But, as I’m sure you all remember learning as children yourselves, sometimes life is very unfair.  Grace can chew gum but Erin can’t right now because she has braces, for example.  It’s not fair.  Erin gets invited to a birthday party but not Grace. It’s not fair.  
As we hold together both the story of Jonah and Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard this morning, God teaches us that life isn’t fair.  Forgiveness isn’t fair.  Vicar June encouraged us last week to let go of keeping score or counting how many times you’ve said “I forgive you” when it comes to giving and receiving forgiveness.  If we reduce forgiveness to a math equation, it won’t compute – it doesn’t work out – it cannot be reconciled.  But thanks be to God, Jesus comes to reconcile us back to God and one another.  Jesus makes us count to God, each one of us, no matter what we’ve done or failed to do, we are still worth saving.  That’s the power of letting go of fairness when it comes to forgiveness, because God can forgive when we just can’t.  So yes, forgiveness isn’t fair, but God can teach us that this is a good thing, because God can forgive when we can’t.
    Most of us know the first two chapters of Jonah’s story – it’s what we learn in Sunday School.  God asks Jonah to go to Ninevah as a prophet.  He gets in a boat to go the farthest place away from Ninevah: Tarshish.  God is not going to let Jonah get away with this.  A storm comes up, endangering the lives of all on board, so Jonah throws himself overboard and is swallowed up by a giant fish, where he lives for three days in the belly of the fish and then is spit up to go and do what God asked him to do in the first place – go to Ninevah.
    Ah, but this is not the end of the story.  Our reading of the second half of the book of Jonah today reminds us that Jonah still doesn’t really get what God is trying to teach him.  He is definitely a reluctant prophet.  Go back and read all of chapter 3 – it’s pretty short.  Jonah only walks a third of the way into the city, and I imagine him begrudgingly saying, “Forty days more and Ninevah shall be overthrown!”  It’s not even a call to repentance or a promise of redemption if they change their ways – Jonah’s message is proclamation of God’s judgment.  Yet, despite Jonah’s half-hearted half-truth message, everyone in the city, humans AND animals, puts on sackcloth, fasts, and believes God!  God does not bring about the destruction that Jonah foretells, and Jonah is really mad about it.  God forgives when Jonah can’t.
    In fact, he is so angry he could die – Jonah says this twice to God.  Twice the Lord asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry?”  Jonah avoids the question.  First, Jonah is angry about Ninevah not being destroyed. Then, Jonah is angry about the bush – his protective shade -  withering.  He’s as angry about a plant as God being willing to forgive and be merciful to a city of 120,000 people…and also many animals.  Now, keep in mind, Ninevah is the capital city of Assyria, hated enemies of Israel.  Jonah’s reluctance to go there and then his anger at God letting Israel’s sworn enemies off the hook so easily is more understandable when we think about the possibility of God forgiving our sworn enemies without the consequences we think they should have.  Philosopher David Whyte says our anger puts us in touch with what we value.  When we have a hard time forgiving, especially when we still feel angry, perhaps it’s because God is challenging something that we deeply value inside of us – a value of justice and fairness, perhaps.  Or in the case of a bush, a value personal comfort where we don’t want God to make us uncomfortable.  The story of Jonah points us to God’s values.  God’s mercy and forgiveness can extend to all people, even to our enemies.  Is it right for us to be angry, when we recognize that God can do whatever he wants with what belongs to him, including forgiving God’s very own beloved creatures, when we can’t?
    Similarly in Jesus’ parable, those who work the entire day are paid generously – they agreed to a fair amount for a daily wage.  They are not excluded.  They are praised for their work.  It’s when they start looking around comparing what they have received to what others are receiving, counting the cost, keeping score, that they get jealous and angry.  The invitation this morning from Jesus is to see God’s reconciling work in others as joyful and generous, not as “unfair” like God’s forgiveness is some kind of competition.
    The difficult truth that Jonah learns by the end of his story is that it is not up to him to decide what God does with other people.  If it were up to us to decide who is good enough, who is deserving enough, we all would end up lacking.  We all would be in trouble!  Our scriptures this morning point us to the core of the gospel, which is that Jesus dies for us to save us and all people when we were undeserving.  In Jesus Christ, God is able to forgive when we cannot.  God’s forgiveness doesn’t make sense.  It is not fair.  It may be difficult for us to believe that for others.  So, how about we start with ourselves?  If we can believe that we are deserving of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness, then so are others – so are even our enemies.  God forgives when we can’t.  Knowing this may help us take one small step towards extending more forgiveness – for ourselves, and for others.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.