Links for today’s readings:
Apr 29 Read: Jonah 3 Listen: (1:31) Read: Psalm 78.1-37 Listen: (7:12)
Scripture Focus: Jonah 3:5-6
5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
Reflection: Won’t He Do It
By Erin Newton
How far gone is too far? How evil can a person be before we declare there’s no going back? Whose repentance do you think is impossible?
Sometimes it’s easier to hope in a miracle of healing than to believe that bad people will suddenly repent. And Jonah agrees.
The story of Jonah is full of impossibilities. You’d think being thrown overboard, not drowning but being swallowed by a fish, not dying but hanging out for three days, and being spewed from the fish onto dry land would make Jonah and us, the readers, staunch believers in anything. (Even if you read the story as hyperbole, the point is the ridiculous impossibility of it all.) But I’ve still got a side eye toward the Ninevites.
Nineveh was a large Assyrian city, serving as the capital. The Assyrians were formidable enemies against Israel and notoriously ruthless. It’s easier to sympathize with Jonah’s reluctance than to hope for their change of heart. But God likes to surprise us.
The prophet Jonah looks at the quest as an exercise in futility. Nineveh, against all expectations, responds in repentance. It was the most improbable outcome, and later Jonah will be grumpy about it.
Why is their reaction shocking? Because we expect people to keep doing what they always do. We expect evil people to keep being evil with little to no hope the word of God will affect them. Is our faith in people too big and our faith in God too small? Perhaps.
We need stories like Jonah to shock us out of our routine expectations. We need to be reminded that the unexpected still happens. We need something to hope in—that the message of God still has power to change people.
I know how tired we are of living in “unprecedented times.” The word has lost its meaning. Each day is a new set of horrors and we are at risk of believing that it will only continue getting worse. It feels a lot more compelling to hop on the nearest boat to get away from it. Even jumping overboard sounds like the reasonable thing to do. How can anything turn out right?
Believe that God calls you. Believe that God can find you in the middle of the sea. Believe that God will use creation to save you. Believe that God will meet you in the depths. And believe that God can change even the worst of humanity.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
The Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully. — Psalm 145.19
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle
Read more: When Ninevites Believe
God’s glory is best seen in his mercy. May we be able to celebrate when Ninevites believe.
Read more: The Maddest Prophet, The Saddest Prophet
Imagine a Ukrainian prophet commanded to take a message of mercy to Moscow and you might have an inkling of what Jonah felt like…