JONAH IN NINEVEH

Greetings to all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

As we read third chapter of Jonah, we see Jonah's calling to the service.

1) God neither reproached Jonah nor Ninevites.

 "And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time."

• God did not hurt his feelings in any way for his running away from his first mission.
• God, in His anger, didn't punish him or harden the mission for him.
• It was the same mission which He planned the first time.

"God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not."

• Thus, God does not insist on fulfillment of the sentence but rather He announces the sentence so that people would stop their evil and He would forgive them.

St. John Chrysostom says: In the days of Jonah if God had not threatened destruction, they would not have been spared from destruction. If God had not threatened us with hell, we would have all fallen in it. A threat of danger results in escaping that same danger.

2) NINEVEH’S FAITH AND REPENTANCE 

Jonah did not give them any glimmer of hope, nor did he talk to them about God’s love and mercy, nor did he teach them anything about repentance. 

Hence Nineveh became a living, beautiful example of true repentance. 

Let us also have Faith in Christ. We have hope in Jesus.

Repent for the Kingdom of God is near!

 

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