Good Morning Friends,
Well after reading today’s lectionary selection I thought I would meditate on aligning my will with God’s purpose gleaning from the life of Jonah. But I am not sure how willing my spirit is some days. I have grown weary during the pandemic and perhaps you have too. Just too many tears. I grieve what I have lost. Sometimes, but not always, I feel like people are beyond hope, that they are incapable of change. And efforts to manipulate my emotions just makes angry. Perhaps they feel the same way, and maybe you feel the same way. And sometimes I feel like God wants me to do something, but I resist that urge. Perhaps you too have felt like God wanted you to do something, but you resisted. And I imagine that sometimes you have done what God desired for you to do and felt the joy of doing the right thing. So, with that reality in mind we explore what I think Jesus was getting at, given the evil of his time, even as we ask… What Signs Of Jonah Are Guiding Our Behaviors And Beliefs?
Scripture: The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you. “So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
Jonah 3:1-10 (NRSV)
When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!
Luke 11:29-32 (NRSV)
the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
Romans 1:3–4 (NRSV)
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Psalm 51: 3-19 (NRSV)
Message: Maybe today’s message should be about ministries to those unlike us and maybe it should be about enjoying life for I understand a bad day fishing is better than a good day of lots of other things. Of course, Nineveh was known for its fish. And today we see stylized fish as a symbol of the Christian faith on bumper stickers that may go back to today’s text, but then, Jesus was a fisher of men so it may have to do with his preaching for people to repent. Jesus may have meant many things in referencing the sign of Jonah but the most likely is from our Gospel readings written many years after the miracle of the cross and resurrection. Luke and Matthew, in a similar passage, were undoubtedly thinking in retrospect having known of the resurrection in the Gospel message. But the context of the sign of Jonah utterance was in response to the Pharisees so we need to understand that before we jump to any conclusions about our own behavior. The point here is that they remained unconvinced of Jesus’ claims about Himself, despite His having just cured a demon-possessed man who was both blind and mute. And that was an amazing miracle. Still, shortly after the Pharisees accused Jesus of driving out demons by the power of Satan, they said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Now at the time this could have been interpreted as the character of the person Jonah and his name which some think means dove, a symbol of peace or it could have meant, the wrath of God which Jonah predicted for the Ninevites, or possibly the image of a fish vomiting Jonah on the beach. But Jesus elaborated his answer in a way to provide the Pharisees with more than evidence that he was indeed the Messiah but the promise of a miraculous proof the He was much more. So, the phrase sign of Jonah here was used I think as a metaphor for the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Yes, it tracks back to the three days in the belly of the fish but also the three partial days between the resurrection and the crucifixion. But you probably already knew that. But dwelling on all these miracles can be red herrings to God’s purpose for us. Maybe the Pharisees did not believe in the fish story of Jonah. The thing is that the Ninevites believed Jonah even when he performed no great miracles. The message for us then is not to get so caught up in the seaweeds of the fish story that we miss being schooled in the main event of the greatest catch of all. We have proof in the reality that we are discussing the subject 2000 years later.
And So, Jesus, the Word made flesh, is paralleling the story of Jonah, and making it clear to the Pharisees that they are culpable for their unbelief but that they would be given what really are two signs. The first is the greatest miracle of all…the defeat of Satan and the death and resurrection of Christ and the second the rise of Christianity extending the Gospel to all nations. Jonah serves as much as a warning to us today as it did to the people in Jesus’ day. We neglect this truth at our own peril. The Ninevites repented in Jonah story and whether they believed in him being swallowed up by a big fish or not did not matter to us today really. For now we have Jesus’ warning to us, a far greater witness than Jonah. Jesus in His ministry referred directly or indirectly to Jonah on several occasions. What is common to them is that the Pharisees demanded a sign from Jesus to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus responded with indignation that this was a request from an evil and adulterous generation. Perhaps we too want proof but instead should be guided by the story of Jonah that our belief needs no miracles to assure it. The gentile Ninevites would rise up in judgment against them because they had repented at the preaching of the lesser Jonah, whereas they had not repented at the preaching of the greater Jesus. The sign not only points to Jesus and his death and resurrection but also to the ministry to the Gentiles that would follow.
Pray that we see the signs of warning and of wisdom. Pray we realize that just as Jonah was sent as an emissary of peace to Nineveh, so too Jesus was sent as an emissary of peace to the whole world. Pray we are obedient hearers of the Word made flesh in our hearts and that this reality is manifested in our hands. Pray we repent. Pray we believe. Pray we are a sign of peace so others might believe. Pray we provide hope for those who are most vulnerable of feeling hopeless. Pray we believe in the continuing possibilities of the miracle of Jesus. Pray we do not resist God. Pray our spirit is willing to follow Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 