All in 48 verses!
Jonah 3: 1-10
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.
The Book of Jonah is one of my favorites. In 48 verses, Jonah disobeys God and hops a ship in the opposite direction of Nineveh; he is swallowed by a large fish and spends three days and three nights in its belly until he repents; the entire population of Nineveh (humans and animals) repents after hearing the prophet utter five words in Hebrew; God then changes his mind and decides not to smote them. Another reason why I love this scripture. All in 48 verses!
Let’s face it: Jonah is a whiny, recalcitrant prophet. He doesn’t want to prophesize to foreigners and is angry that God changes his mind when the people of Nineveh repent and turn to him—his God! Jonah admits in verse 4:2: “you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing…” All true, but he doesn’t appreciate sharing God’s merciful grace with the “other” and churlishly resents God’s concern for them (all of chapter 4).
I believe we can find ourselves in this allegory. Like Jonah, how often do we want God’s blessings to fall upon those we love and agree with and wish pain and comeuppance upon those we don’t? It is obvious that God knew the Ninevites’ repentance was sincere. Not a shred of hypocrisy. Their outward behavior reflected their inner state of being. They were remorseful and knew they needed to make things right with one another and with God. This is exactly what Lent demands of us.
Being able to change one’s mind is a sign of intelligence. It’s not weakness or not being resolute. It’s coming to terms with the truth and not being stagnant in heart and mind. This is how wisdom is built, layer by layer. Let is also time to come clean with God so that our private thoughts and actions are not in opposition with what the world sees. God knows the truth of what is going on with us—let’s get in sync and have a happy Lent.
Amen.
prayer
A Prayer of Protection
Come stand in the center of the circle
come stand beneath the wing of the sacred.
There is a heart who knows your name.
There is a mind who knows your struggle.
More ancient than Earth herself;
More wise than all the wisdom of the world
Close your eyes and open your spirit
This love enfolds you in its wings.
Do not lower your head to fear
but raise your hands to receive this blessing.
You are safe within the arms of grace.
You are sheltered within the home of hope.
Rise up in your strength renewed
Rise up and received the gift of glory.
—Bishop Steven Charleston
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