Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
The ministry of Jonah, whom some have labeled “the reluctant missionary,” is a gemstone with many facets. We could look at the facet of God’s gracious call. We could look at Jonah’s willingness, or lack of willingness, to travel to Nineveh. There is the facet of the miracle as God delivered Jonah from the belly of the great fish as a type of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. We could see Jonah’s ill-advised anger toward the LORD’s compassion.
The radiance that shines forth particularly in the Epiphany season is God’s will to save all sinners including Gentiles. The Gentiles in this case were the Ninevites. Today we would call them Iraquis. God used the same tool he uses to bring all sinners to the saving knowledge of redemption in Christ. That tool is the preaching of God’s Word.
The Jonah we see at this point “obeyed the Word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.” What happened? What still happens? God Accomplishes His Will to Save Sinners through the Preaching of His Word. Jonah proclaimed judgment on sin and unbelief. Jonah declared God’s compassion and forgiveness on those who repent.
The city of Nineveh, its ruins are outside present day Mosul, was one of the great cities in the Assyrian Empire. It took days to travel throughout all of its streets and lanes. Its people worshipped the Assyrian false gods because they did not know the LORD God. Their idolatry did not bear the fruits of holiness and love but “evil ways and violence.” This still is the waymany who follow false gods act against their neighbors.
Jonah had come to the great city because the Lord had called him to go there. Jonah came not to proclaim his own message but to “proclaim to it the message” God had entrusted to him. Jonah first proclaimed judgment on sin and unbelief. “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
God wanted these Gentiles to know him, the only true God, and worship him. Even in God’s pronouncement of judgment, there is mercy. The LORD God gave them a time of grace to repent rather than destroying the city at once.
This reminds us of the 120 years God gave the earth before the Flood. God gave Pharaoh plenty of time to let his people go. You and I have more hours on earth as a time of grace, as do all people. Many do not recognize this
purpose for their lives, to prepare for the final judgment. This is why we need to share the message of repentance with them, just as Jonah did with the Ninevites. God accomplishes his will to save sinners through the preaching of his Word. That word begins with judgment against sin and unbelief.
Jonah’s preaching that God will punish all who do not worship him worked the contrition for sin God desired. “The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.”
St. Peter wrote in his second epistle, “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household.” That means that we first recognize that we deserve such judgment again our sins. God calls us to daily repentance through our taking him at his word. God calls all sinners, beginning with me, to confess our sins and mourn over them. If not in literal sackcloth and ashes, then with broken hearts and contrite sighs.
This is not the only message through which God accomplishes his will to save sinners. There also is the preaching of his Word of compassion and love on those who repent. This is our joy and hope as it was for our Ninevite brothers and sisters in Christ.
This message of the gospel came as healing balm to the broken hearts of the Ninevites. God kept his promise. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”
The Ninevites bore fruits to show that their repentance was genuine. God had turned them from unbelief and the evil and violence that follow. Jonah also had shared with them God’s compassion and love in the coming Savior. For them as for us and for all sinners, God’s compassion and love are in Christ, Jesus of Nazareth.
God did not bring his judgment down on them because he would bring it down on Jesus as their substitute. God laid on Jesus Christ the iniquity of us all. God did not change his mind about judgment but judged his Son in the flesh instead. The reason God relented and spared them was they trusted in his promise and showed that faith by confessing their sins to him and turning from their evil ways.
God accomplishes his will to save sinners through the preaching of his Word. Jonah declared God’s compassion and forgiveness on those who repent. We have had our Jonahs throughout the years and have them today, here and now, who preach God’s Word. That Word does not ignore God’s judgment against sin and unbelief. We are not to ignore the cross. We do not ignore God’s compassion and love that turns us from evil and violence to faith in him. Again, we dare not avoid the cross. It is on Calvary outside Jerusalem that God’s judgment against sin, and love for us sinners meet on Jesus Christ, our Savior.
The brilliant facet of these verses matches Peter’s words in his second epistle, “He (God) is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” [3:9] They match Paul’s words to Timothy in his first epistle, “God our Savior wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” [2:4]
That is why we preach God’s Word. That is how God accomplishes his will to save sinners. That is God has spared us by his compassion and love from the judgment we deserve. Amen. <SDG>