The Sign of Jonah Reinterpreted

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

Jonah 3:1-10 / Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19 / Luke 11:29-32

                                                                             

The Sign of Jonah Reinterpreted

What was the “sign of Jonah” Jesus was referring to? So often we think of the connection between the three days Jonah spent in the belly of the great fish and the three days Jesus spent in the tomb. But is there another way to look at it?

At the preaching of Jonah the people of Nineveh repented. They were a people who were thought to be beyond hope, under the condemnation of the Lord. Yet when they heard their sentence, they held on to hope. They did not despair. With all their heart they turned back to the Lord. They covered themselves in ashes and sackcloth, and turned to the Lord. Mission accomplished. Not destruction, but repentance; sinners reconciled with God.

The sign of Jonah might be that the hearts of those thought to be condemned were turned back to God. This was the sign that Jesus gave. He came as a shepherd in search of lost sheep. He came as a doctor for the sick. And those who were at the brink of destruction came back to God. And certainly he rose from the dead, like Jonah from the belly of the whale, but what for? So that we might rise from these ashes and return to God.

The sign of hearts converted is what Lent is all about: a season in which we cover ourselves with ashes and sackcloth, in order to express our sorrow for sin and return to the way God has traced out for us. It is a time to renew our first love, a time to turn away from sin, a time to admit our need for the doctor, the healer, the shepherd.

Be part of the sign given to this generation. Turn back to God. Show this generation how merciful the Lord our God is by turning to his mercy and imploring others to do the same. 

·        Picture two scenes:

(1) Picture yourself sitting near the seashore not far from Nineveh. All of the sudden a big fish comes up and spews forth a man from its belly onto the shore. Use your imagination to interact with Jonah: What do you say to each other? How will this affect your life? Your Lent?

(2) Now picture yourself in the streets of Nineveh as Jonah (cleaned up a little from the trip in the fish) walks by and shouts: “Forty days more, and Nineveh will be destroyed.” How will this affect your life? Your Lent?