The Third Sunday after Epiphany --- 25 January 2015

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." 3 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. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

10 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.

Mark 1:14-20

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

• We all know the story of Jonah, the reluctant prophet. We know how he was swallowed by a whale.
• Or do we? Did you know that the book of Jonah never mentions a “whale”, but says a large fish came and swollowed Jonah.
• Did you know that Jonah was running away from God at the time? Jonah was called by God to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh... and Jonah didn't want to do it! So he ran away and took a ship from Joppa in Israel to a land called Tarshish. We know that land as Spain and that about as far away as you can get in the lands known to the Israelites at the time. After all what's beyond Tarshish? The Atlantic Ocean, and since the Israelites didn't really understand the ocean and water and sailing, that would be the portion of their map that would have written on it “Here there be monsters.”
• Did you know that Jonah told the ship's crew to throw him overboard when the terrible storm came up? The story has God sending a storm which almost swamps the ship, so when they try to figure out what was causing the storm, Jonah is the one they all point to, since he had said he was running from the presence of the Lord. It seems he'd rather die than do what the Lord asked, so being thrown into the roiling sea was preferrable.
• Did you know why Jonah was on the run? He was running because God is merciful. When the Ninevites repent with fasting, ashes, and sackcloth - even for the animals – and God relents of the planned punishment, Jonah is disappointed and angry: this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ Jonah, a good Israelite, wanted to see Nineveh destroyed. Nineveh was the capitol of the Assyrian Empire, the deadly enemy of Israel and Judah. To see the place humbled would be the great desire of any Jewish person of the time. It's no wonder that Jonah is upset!
• This brief reading is an example of Gospel found in the Old Testament. God gave Jonah a second chance. God have Nineveh a second chance. And God gives us a second chance... and a third... and a fourth. How could we begrudge that kind of mercy? With Jonah, we know our God: for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.
• The Story of Jonah is the story of God's care and concern for all creation and all people. Jonah is sent to Nineveh because as God tells him ‘their wickedness has come up before me.’ The call to repentance is one of hope and love; if there were no call to repentance, there would be no second chance, no mercy, no way to get beyond punishment for sin.
• When we hear the call to repentance in Mark's Gospel, it is the same call to receive God's mercy. Jesus' first words in the Gospel are simple and powerful: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." There is a call in these words to change our minds, our hearts, and our ways. There is also the unspoken invitation to proclaim God's mercy to those around us.
• We don't have to take a ship to Tarshish to try to escape the mercy God has in store for all. The harsh word, the closed eye, or the turned head would be enough. Yet even those things don't deny the mercy of God, for there might always be another Jonah on his way to Tarshish.
• Repentance carries with it the person's turning toward God and with it, a changed life. How changed, none can say. We don't know if the Ninevites remained repentant; that's not the point of the story. The point has to do with Jonah, HIS repentance, and HIS turning to God. Whether or not he changed his ways is beyond the scope of the story. The story is one of grace and God's mercy extended to all, even to the enemies of reluctant prophets... as well as to the prophets themselves.

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."