Reading: Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
Jonah’s own track record is not exactly a model to follow. When called by God to “go at once to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it,” Jonah boards a ship headed in the other
direction. He flees not only his job assignment, but also to get “away from the presence of the
Lord.” But God manages the oceans too and Jonah is beat before he even gets on board. It just
takes him a little longer to get his directions straight.
So he arrives in Nineveh and proclaims its doom. But not right away. There is a forty
day grace period. Forty days to get a particular job done. That is, “to turn from their evil ways
and from the violence that is in their hands.” And much to Jonah’s own surprise, and later
dismay, they actually do it and “God relent[s] and change[s] his mind.” Jonah wanted them
wiped from the face of the earth. So did every Israelite of his day, given what Nineveh had done
to them and to most of the rest of the world.
After a few more episodes between the pouting prophet and his gracious God, Jonah
finally catches on. If God can be merciful to one rebellious prophet, why not to Nineveh with its
mega-populace of equally “dumb” citizens. In our fits of (pseudo-) righteousness, we wish all
real sinners to get the ax right now, apart from any forty-day waiting period. Not so God. He
offers us “time enough.”
St. Paul picks up this Jonah accent in Romans 2: “Do you not realize that God’s kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance?” When such repentance happens, we are told, there is joy in
heaven. For that too, Jesus says, we are to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it [already] is
in heaven. Christ’s way of the cross is about that too. Joy about repentance? Why not? For
Jonah, for Nineveh, for us, it is a turn from death to life. If that’s not grounds for joy, what is?
Restore unto us the joy of our salvation, dear God, beginning with our joy in repentance. First of
all, our own repentance, then also that of others. You have joy in heaven about our turn-around
and return to you. Overjoy us in the same way in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Reading: Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
Jonah’s own track record is not exactly a model to follow. When called by God to “go at once to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it,” Jonah boards a ship headed in the other
direction. He flees not only his job assignment, but also to get “away from the presence of the
Lord.” But God manages the oceans too and Jonah is beat before he even gets on board. It just
takes him a little longer to get his directions straight.
So he arrives in Nineveh and proclaims its doom. But not right away. There is a forty
day grace period. Forty days to get a particular job done. That is, “to turn from their evil ways
and from the violence that is in their hands.” And much to Jonah’s own surprise, and later
dismay, they actually do it and “God relent[s] and change[s] his mind.” Jonah wanted them
wiped from the face of the earth. So did every Israelite of his day, given what Nineveh had done
to them and to most of the rest of the world.
After a few more episodes between the pouting prophet and his gracious God, Jonah
finally catches on. If God can be merciful to one rebellious prophet, why not to Nineveh with its
mega-populace of equally “dumb” citizens. In our fits of (pseudo-) righteousness, we wish all
real sinners to get the ax right now, apart from any forty-day waiting period. Not so God. He
offers us “time enough.”
St. Paul picks up this Jonah accent in Romans 2: “Do you not realize that God’s kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance?” When such repentance happens, we are told, there is joy in
heaven. For that too, Jesus says, we are to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it [already] is
in heaven. Christ’s way of the cross is about that too. Joy about repentance? Why not? For
Jonah, for Nineveh, for us, it is a turn from death to life. If that’s not grounds for joy, what is?
Restore unto us the joy of our salvation, dear God, beginning with our joy in repentance. First of
all, our own repentance, then also that of others. You have joy in heaven about our turn-around
and return to you. Overjoy us in the same way in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
Jonah’s own track record is not exactly a model to follow. When called by God to “go at once to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it,” Jonah boards a ship headed in the other
direction. He flees not only his job assignment, but also to get “away from the presence of the
Lord.” But God manages the oceans too and Jonah is beat before he even gets on board. It just
takes him a little longer to get his directions straight.
So he arrives in Nineveh and proclaims its doom. But not right away. There is a forty
day grace period. Forty days to get a particular job done. That is, “to turn from their evil ways
and from the violence that is in their hands.” And much to Jonah’s own surprise, and later
dismay, they actually do it and “God relent[s] and change[s] his mind.” Jonah wanted them
wiped from the face of the earth. So did every Israelite of his day, given what Nineveh had done
to them and to most of the rest of the world.
After a few more episodes between the pouting prophet and his gracious God, Jonah
finally catches on. If God can be merciful to one rebellious prophet, why not to Nineveh with its
mega-populace of equally “dumb” citizens. In our fits of (pseudo-) righteousness, we wish all
real sinners to get the ax right now, apart from any forty-day waiting period. Not so God. He
offers us “time enough.”
St. Paul picks up this Jonah accent in Romans 2: “Do you not realize that God’s kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance?” When such repentance happens, we are told, there is joy in
heaven. For that too, Jesus says, we are to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it [already] is
in heaven. Christ’s way of the cross is about that too. Joy about repentance? Why not? For
Jonah, for Nineveh, for us, it is a turn from death to life. If that’s not grounds for joy, what is?
Restore unto us the joy of our salvation, dear God, beginning with our joy in repentance. First of
all, our own repentance, then also that of others. You have joy in heaven about our turn-around
and return to you. Overjoy us in the same way in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Reading: Jonah 3:1-10
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
Jonah’s own track record is not exactly a model to follow. When called by God to “go at once to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it,” Jonah boards a ship headed in the other
direction. He flees not only his job assignment, but also to get “away from the presence of the
Lord.” But God manages the oceans too and Jonah is beat before he even gets on board. It just
takes him a little longer to get his directions straight.
So he arrives in Nineveh and proclaims its doom. But not right away. There is a forty
day grace period. Forty days to get a particular job done. That is, “to turn from their evil ways
and from the violence that is in their hands.” And much to Jonah’s own surprise, and later
dismay, they actually do it and “God relent[s] and change[s] his mind.” Jonah wanted them
wiped from the face of the earth. So did every Israelite of his day, given what Nineveh had done
to them and to most of the rest of the world.
After a few more episodes between the pouting prophet and his gracious God, Jonah
finally catches on. If God can be merciful to one rebellious prophet, why not to Nineveh with its
mega-populace of equally “dumb” citizens. In our fits of (pseudo-) righteousness, we wish all
real sinners to get the ax right now, apart from any forty-day waiting period. Not so God. He
offers us “time enough.”
St. Paul picks up this Jonah accent in Romans 2: “Do you not realize that God’s kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance?” When such repentance happens, we are told, there is joy in
heaven. For that too, Jesus says, we are to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it [already] is
in heaven. Christ’s way of the cross is about that too. Joy about repentance? Why not? For
Jonah, for Nineveh, for us, it is a turn from death to life. If that’s not grounds for joy, what is?
Restore unto us the joy of our salvation, dear God, beginning with our joy in repentance. First of
all, our own repentance, then also that of others. You have joy in heaven about our turn-around
and return to you. Overjoy us in the same way in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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