Nineveh is still a tough place to get missionaries to
go. Canon Andrew White is there, and not
many others. We might be more like Jonah
than we think. If you thought God was
calling you to go there today you might have some second thoughts too, you
might try and run from that call. Jonah knew
God called him very specifically to that place and he ran as far as he could
and as fast as he could from God's presence.
Did he really think that was possible?
Had he not read and did he not believe Psalm 139 was actually true? We can know something to be true and yet act
in the hope it isn't always true. Jonah knows
full well what is going on with the storm but refuses to tell the truth until
the lot falls on him, he is willing that all these on board should die rather
than go to Nineveh. Even when he tells
the truth he isn't willing to throw himself overboard, he wants to make these
pagans responsible for his death, assuming they don't have the moral or ethical
scruples against such things as he. Abraham
thought the same about Abimelech and found that this pagan king had a basic
sense of right and wrong and sleeping with another man's wife, taking her for
your own, wasn't good. The sailors prove
the same kind of men, not believing it correct to have innocent blood on their
hands but Jonah isn't innocent is he? The
Lord receives the "sacrifice" of Jonah and the men offer him a
sacrifice in response. Can you imagine Jonah's
response when the fish swallowed him and he realized he wasn't dying?
Remember that Jesus has just come from the tombs of the
Gerasenes among pigs and pagans when he returns this day. The synagogue ruler has every reason to avoid
Jesus, just as all the rest of the people should have done to maintain ritual
purity. The ruler, however, is desperate
enough that such things no longer matter to him, his daughter is dying. As Jesus goes with him to his home to see
about this daughter, an unclean woman, a woman with menstrual bleeding that has
continued for twelve years, joins the crowd and touches Jesus' garment in the belief
that this will heal her and Jesus notices the touch because power went out from
Him. When was the last time you felt
power go out from you when touched? Now,
everyone knows that He is unclean even if they hadn't seen what happened
before. She receives not only healing
but is called daughter, she is restored to relationship. The ruler persists on behalf of his daughter
and his faith too is rewarded.
Paul, unlike Jonah, wants to see the mercy of God for his
enemy. His desire, as he says, is that
the king, Agrippa, would become like him, a Christian, one to whom God has
revealed Himself and saved by the same grace.
In Jesus, we see the face of God and the true image. We should see the love of God for all who
bear His image, even those who have set themselves to be our enemies. We are called to love and pray for them, to
want for them, our neighbors, all that we want for ourselves, beginning with
salvation. How often do you pray for
those who hate and persecute you? Pray today
for the enemies of the church.
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