Psalm 95, 32, 143
Jonah 3: 1-4:11
Hebrews 12: 1-14
Luke 18: 9-14
“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you’...When God saw...how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened...But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.” Jonah 3:1-2, 10; 4:1
Many years ago my brother gave me a beautiful blown glass whale, just a little thing about three inches long, with a little tiny Jonah in it. To be honest, it escapes me what was going on in my life at the time that made the gift appropriate but it was undoubtedly a justified reminder that perhaps something was out of balance in my life; certainly not the first time, or the last...
The Jonah reading for this day, beginning at Ch. 3:1 to the end of the book, 4:11, focuses on Jonah’s reluctant obedience to prophesize to the Ninevites after his “time out” in the belly of the whale, and then his subsequent and rather perplexing anger with God because they believed him and changed their ways! Jonah was angry with God because the Ninevites were enemies of Isra- el, and why was God concerned with Gentiles...and animals?! Do we sometimes get angry when we feel that God is not responding the way we feel He should, or it feels like God has turned His back on us? This OT story is not just another example of foreshadowing for Jesus’ coming, but a message to us that God’s concern is for all of His children (and animals!), where ever they may be.
May we all have a Holy Lent!
Vicki Cravens