Read | Jonah 4:1–11
Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. He prayed to the LORD, “Please, LORD, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. And now, LORD, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
The LORD asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Jonah left the city and found a place east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered.
As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”
Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!”
And the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?”
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Focus
View this work of art, Jonah, by Lauren Stevens, connected to Sunday’s sermon passage.
As you look at this week’s piece, take a few quiet moments to notice details, colors, or emotions that stand out to you. Ask God what he might be saying through the image, and listen for his insight in your thoughts, feelings, or prayers.
Commentary:
Lauren Stevens is a printmaker and artist who graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2021 with a BFA in printmaking and recently earned an MFA in printmaking from Arizona State University. This piece was created as an illustration for a collaborative project with Poor Bishop Hooper, Haggadah, in which Stevens created illustrations for a family guide to hosting an in-home Meal of Remembrance (Seder) where Christ is the passover lamb.
Stevens gives us a visual representation of the parallels between Christ and Jonah’s stories. Under the slain lamb we see Christ wrapped in graveclothes, interred above a depiction of Jonah’s three-day stay in the belly of the great fish. Christ rose by his own might, and as we know, Jonah was spit out by the great fish at God’s delivering command.
Both stories highlight God’s faithful deliverance of a stubborn people, and not just the Israelites. Jonah’s eventual repentance and witness (half-hearted though it was) brought an entire city of gentiles to repentance. Jesus, in his particular human life, death, and the mystery of his resurrection, throws the gates of salvation open to Jew and Gentile alike, and the sign of Jonah means that all who will humble themselves and bow to Christ as Lord will one day emerge from their own tombs, declaring with Jonah, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
This illustration will be on display as part of a solo exhibit featuring Lauren’s work at Four Chapter Gallery from June 5–August 30, 2026.
Art Source: Jonah from Haggadah, Lauren Stevens, 2025. Used by permission. laurenstevensart.com
Pray
Pray for renewal from resentment and self-righteousness.
Going Deeper
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.