He wants to die

He is angry about events around him.

He is angry about his physical discomfort.

He wants to die.

So goes the not-so-well-known epilogue of the famous story of the prophet Jonah as we hear in today’s first reading (Jonah 4:1-11).

Of course, God gets the last word, beginning with the repeated question “Have you reason to be angry?”

God then sets Jonah straight, reminding him how small his problems are in comparison to greater issues in the world.

That is not to say that Jonah as an individual is worthless weighed against the welfare of multitudes. Indeed, what is unspoken here, but was recounted in the previous chapter, is that this single individual, unmotivated and bumbling, had a key part to play in the salvation of many thousands of people.

May we always look at our lives as God sees them:
how small our individual troubles really are
and how great an effect we can have in our puny lives
by the power of his grace.