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.
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.
Now
after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of
God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come
near; repent, and believe in the good news."
·
I have to
admit that I am terribly torn this morning. I am faced with two of my favourite
reading from the Bible.
·
First of
all, I love the book of Jonah. It should be an “illustrated novel,” a fancy
up-scale term for “comic book.” Jonah is called to preach repentance to
Nineveh, the capitol of Israel’s enemy, the hated Assyrian Empire. Jonah says
“No way!” and catches a ship to Spain, which is as far as you can go before
monsters run the show… out beyond the Gates of Hercules, beyond Gibraltar.
(Remember the old maps with the inscription “Here there be monsters.”?) Long story short, God sends a great fish
to gobble up Jonah when the sailors throw him overboard during a storm. The
fish spits up Jonah back where he started and he preaches repentance to
Nineveh… which repents in record time. From the king to the lowliest beggar,
everybody puts on sackcloth and ashes and fasts in repentance. Even the animals
are decked out in scratchy old burlap. God relents on destroying Nineveh and
Jonah is angry since he wanted to see Nineveh go down in flames. There’s more
to the story, but that’s the thumbnail sketch. Read it yourselves; the book is
only four chapters!
·
Now I also
love the call to repentance that Jesus preaches in Mark. These are in fact the
first words Jesus says in the Gospel. This has been important to me for a
number of reasons.
·
Repent… is
not a word we love. It calls up images of burlap shirts, gritty ashes,
wild-eyed preachers, tears, sadness, and suffering. It also involves admitting
we’ve done something wrong, and I don’t know anyone who enjoys that.
·
Repentance
may involve any of those things, but what it really involves is turning around.
The word in the original language literally means “to turn around.” At its
simplest, it could mean to make an about face and go in a different direction.
Taking it further, it can mean reform things or do things differently. The old
phrase – “Do penance” – is often seen as a recommendation to be involved in
penitential actions, like fasting, wearing sackcloth, or whipping oneself. There
are so many negative ideas and images that come to mind from that and it clouds
the whole picture.
·
The
emphasis on the practices and the “doing” misses the mark. The turning around,
the change of heart and of mind is the point. Jesus points out that “the kingdom of God has come near”
and because of that, people should change their ways. In the story of Jonah,
the Ninevites repent of whatever they were doing and turn to God almost as soon
as Jonah begins his preaching. In the Gospel, it is the presence and nearness
of God’s Kingdom that leads to repentance and a turning-around.
·
Jesus does
not say what the people are to repent of nor does he say how they are to manage
their repentance. The message is ultimately simple: God is near and things
can’t be the same as they have been. Reform your lives! Realign yourselves with
the Kingdom coming. When we think of “turning around”, we turn away from
something, but we turn toward something else. In this case, we turn from what
leads us away from God to the Kingdom of God with all that means in our lives.
·
There is
the balance point. We don’t reform our lives in order to be better people; we
reform our lives in order to take on the values and directions of the Kingdom
of God. Such a reform is not once-and-done, but an each and every day thing.
·
In taking
on what the Kingdom of God offers, we are assured that the forgiveness of God
will be ours. Such forgiveness is part and parcel of the Kingdom. We can learn
more about it. We can tell others about it. We can model it in how we live it
out. Mostly we can be a people who have turned around… reformed… repented,
turning to a life that reflects the Kingdom, its values, and ultimately, the
life of Jesus Christ himself.
Now
after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of
God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come
near; repent, and believe in the good news."
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