Epiphany Week 3

Psalm: Psalm 62:5-12 
Old Testament: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 
Gospel: Mark 1:14-20 
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

If you can believe it, we are in the last week full week of January; New Years Eve and all those resolutions people make are probably starting to feel like quite awhile ago. This week, we continue with the theme of Epiphany, or God's self revealing to creation. God is constantly revealing himself to creation in a variety of ways. 

This week, we have one extreme example found in the story of Jonah and Nineveh. Nineveh was a city of great evil that was so far lost God was on the verge of destroying it. This was not the first time God had threatened to destroy a whole city or people group; there was the flood in Noah's time, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Canaanites and other people groups who lived in the land promised to Israel. This episode in Jonah hearkens back to the destroying of Sodom and Gomorrah. In both cases, the wickedness of the cities is so great that their cry had come up before the Lord and God felt like he must act. There was also a chance for each city to be saved. In Sodom and Gomorrah's case, if just 10 righteous people were found and in Nineveh, if they heeded Jonah's call to repent.

There are differences, however. Sodom and Gomorrah were presumably in the promised land to Abraham. A land which God said would be set apart for Abraham and his descendants. However, they didn't take possession of it for hundreds of years later; apparently the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah could not wait that long. Nineveh, on the other hand, was in a totally different place and far removed from God's people. (It should be noted that not so far removed as to not be able to conquer and exile God's people at a later date.) The other key difference is that Sodom and Gomorrah were not offered a chance to repent or change. Indeed it seems that without only 10 righteous people, Sodom would have been a lost cause. As we know, none could be found, so the city was destroyed. Nineveh, on the other hand, responded to Jonah's preaching on the first day and was saved destruction by turning to God.

I spend some time on these stories to show how God works in ways we don't understand. For Sodom and Gomorrah, the message of repentance wasn't extended other than perhaps Abraham's presence in the community. It also demonstrates that God goes out of his way to send his representatives to a city that is seemingly without hope to offer them one last change of repentance when they may have not had even one follower of God in their midst.

God's calling and self-revelation did not stop with Jonah and Nineveh. This is of course not earth-shattering news to us. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus calls his disciples to follow him and join him as he travels and ministers and reveals God to those in home he meets. Through Jesus, God incarnate, God has ultimately revealed himself fully for all of creation. Today, through the Holy Spirit, we continue to meet Jesus and be called by him just as the original disciples were. Even for those who seem to be too far lost to sin with no hope of salvation, such as the Ninevites, God still calls them and they are capable of an affirmative response.

I think, perhaps, the challenge to me and to all of us is to not fall into the temptation Jonah and even the Pharisees did to an extent. This is the temptation to both think that God cannot save and use certain people and think that some people don't deserve God's salvation. Jonah didn't want to preach in Nineveh and was actually upset when God saved them. The Pharisees looked at Jesus' disciples and only saw uneducated, dirty, and sinful laborers and outcasts. God however, in both cases saw a potential for his grace to be extended and his name to be glorified. Let us follow God in extending grace and love to all. God is the judge, not us. Our task is to be Christ's presence in the world. Let us be faithful to God's purposes and calling in our lives this week.

Grace and Peace.