Jonah
Jonah 2:1-3:5
From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:
“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’
The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
“Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
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.”
Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Jonah had a hard time believing that God wanted to save the people of Nineveh. They were Israel’s enemies. Jonah’s disbelief caused him to run away from God’s call and landed him inside the belly of a huge fish. We might expect more from a prophet, but Jonah’s story reminds us that even people of faith are blinded by biases and beliefs. Have you ever resisted what God asked you to do because it didn’t make sense? Have you ever hesitated to show love to someone else because you think they didn’t deserve it? Maybe those choices didn’t lead to being shallowed by a fish, but perhaps they limited your understanding and experience of God. Perhaps you closed yourself off to the bigger story that God wanted to write through you and those around you.
The good news is that those choices don’t have to define us. Jonah prayed from inside the fish and then chose to turn back towards God’s calling. We too have an opportunity to ask for God’s grace and to change our actions, to turn back towards God’s extravagant love and grace for all people. Jesus calls us to love our enemies, to show generous grace towards those who are different from us - even if we think they don’t deserve it. Afterall, God’s love comes to us in our darkest moments of shame and disobedience so why wouldn’t God’s love do the same for others?
Prayer:
Thank God for his love and grace that knows no boundaries. Confess to God any situations where you’ve withheld love from others and ask God for wisdom, courage and grace to choose a different path. Thank God for the gift of forgiveness and consider any people that you need to extend forgiveness to today.