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3rd Sunday after the Epiphany - Green
Lectionary Scriptures:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 62:5-12
1Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
Jonah 3:1 Jonah Goes to Nineveh
2 Once again the Lord told Jonah 2 to go to that great city of Nineveh and preach his message of doom.
3 Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh. The city was so big that it took three days just to walk through it. 4 After walking for a day, Jonah warned the people, “Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!”
5 They believed God’s message and set a time when they would go without eating to show their sorrow. Then everyone in the city, no matter who they were, dressed in sackcloth.
10 When God saw that the people had stopped doing evil things, he had pity and did not destroy them as he had planned.
Psalm 62:5 Only God gives inward peace,
and I depend on him.
6 God alone is the mighty rock
that keeps me safe,
and he is the fortress
where I feel secure.
7 God saves me and honors me.
He is that mighty rock
where I find safety.
8 Trust God, my friends,
and always tell him
each one of your concerns.
God is our place of safety.
9 We humans are only a breath;
none of us are truly great.
All of us together weigh less
than a puff of air.
10 Don’t trust in violence
or depend on dishonesty
or rely on great wealth.
11 I heard God say two things:
“I am powerful,
12 and I am very kind.”
The Lord rewards each of us
according to what we do.
1 Corinthians 7:29 My friends, what I mean is that the Lord will soon come,[a] and it won’t matter if you are married or not. 30 It will be all the same if you are crying or laughing, or if you are buying or are completely broke. 31 It won’t make any difference how much good you are getting from this world or how much you like it. This world as we know it is now passing away.[Footnotes:
7.29 the Lord will soon come: Or “there’s not much time left” or “the time for decision comes quickly.”]
Mark 1: Jesus Begins His Work
14 After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee and told the good news that comes from God.[a] 15 He said, “The time has come! God’s kingdom will soon be here.[b] Turn back to God and believe the good news!”
Jesus Chooses Four Fishermen
16 As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were fishermen and were casting their nets into the lake. 17 Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” 18 Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.
19 Jesus walked on and soon saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat, mending their nets. 20 At once Jesus asked them to come with him. They left their father in the boat with the hired workers and went with him.[Footnotes:
1.14 that comes from God: Or “that is about God.”
1.15 will soon be here: Or “is already here.”]
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary for
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Verse 3
[3] So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
Exceeding great — The greatest city of the known world at that day, it was then in its flourishing state greater than Babylon, whose compass was three hundred eighty-five furlongs, but Nineveh was in compass, four hundred and eighty. It is said, her walls were an hundred foot in height, her walls broad enough for three coaches to meet, and safely pass by each other; that it had fifteen hundred towers on its walls, each two hundred foot high, and one million, four hundred thousand men employed for eight years to build it.
Of three days journey — To walk round the walls, allowing twenty miles to each day's journey.
Verse 4
[4] And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Shall be overthrown — The threat is express. But there was a reserve with God, on condition of repentance.
Verse 5
[5] So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
From the greatest — Great and small, rich and poor.
Psalm 62:5-12
Verse 9
[9] Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
Vanity — Vain, and helpless creatures.
A lie — They promise much, but generally deceive those who trust in them.
Verse 10
[10] Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
Vain — Feeding yourselves with vain hopes of felicity, from those riches which you take from others by violence.
Verse 11
[11] God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.
Spoken — Frequently, both immediately as at Sinai, and by his holy prophets, from time to time.
That — That power is God's prerogative; and consequently all creatures, either against or without him, are poor impotent things.
Verse 12
[12] Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.
Therefore — God is almighty, therefore he can easily destroy all his enemies: he is also merciful, and therefore will pardon good mens failings.
Renderest — And this as he is obliged to do by his holy nature, so is he able to do it, being omnipotent, and willing to do it to the godly (which was the only thing that might be doubted, because of their manifold miscarriages) because he is merciful and gracious.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Verse 29
[29] But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
But this I say, brethren — With great confidence. The time of our abode here is short. It plainly follows, that even they who have wives be as serious, zealous, active, dead to the world, as devoted to God, as holy in all manner of conversation, as if they had none - By so easy a transition does the apostle slide from every thing else to the one thing needful; and, forgetting whatever is temporal, is swallowed up in eternity.
Verse 30
[30] And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
And they that weep, as if they wept not — "Though sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." They that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not - Tempering their joy with godly fear.
They that buy, as if they possessed not — Knowing themselves to be only stewards, not proprietors.
Verse 31
[31] And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
And they that use this world, as not abusing it — Not seeking happiness in it, but in God: using every thing therein only in such a manner and degree as most tends to the knowledge and love of God. For the whole scheme and fashion of this world - This marrying, weeping, rejoicing, and all the rest, not only will pass, but now passeth away, is this moment flying off like a shadow.
Mark 1:14-20
Verse 14
[14] Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Matthew 4:12.
Verse 15
[15] And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
The time is fulfilled — The time of my kingdom, foretold by Daniel, expected by you, is fully come.
Verse 16
[16] Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Matthew 4:18; Luke 5:1.
Verse 18
[18] And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
Straightway leaving their nets, they followed him — From this time they forsook their employ, and constantly attended him. Happy they who follow Christ at the first call!
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PO Box 340004
Nashville, Tennessee 37203-0004 United States
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Sermon Story "When Obedience Disappoints" by Gary Lee Parker with Sermon Test Mark 1:14-20 for Sunday, 25 January 2015
Jonah 3:1 Jonah Goes to Nineveh
2 Once again the Lord told Jonah 2 to go to that great city of Nineveh and preach his message of doom.
3 Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh. The city was so big that it took three days just to walk through it. 4 After walking for a day, Jonah warned the people, “Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!”
5 They believed God’s message and set a time when they would go without eating to show their sorrow. Then everyone in the city, no matter who they were, dressed in sackcloth.
10 When God saw that the people had stopped doing evil things, he had pity and did not destroy them as he had planned.
Now we hear about God calling Jonah, His Prophet, to go to the city of Assyria, Ninevah, that is made up of Assyrians who were the Israelites or Hebrews or Jews worst enemy. Jonah refused to go the first time and was deep;y punished by God, but this second time Jonah went to Ninevah to proclaim that God was going to destroy the great city of Ninevah in three days if they do not repent of their sins. The amazing fact is that Jonah's message of repentance was heard by the whole city from the poorest to the king or the wealthiest. The command came out that the Ninevites should repent in sackcloth and ashes including all of the animals with fasting and prayers of repentance. God heard the prayers and fasting of the Ninevites and He changed His mind and not to destroy the great city as a result of their repentance with prayers and fasting while wearing sackcloth and ashes. What characters in this story do you relate to? How do you understand the deep felt repentance of the Ninevites? How do you understand the way that God changed His mind not to destroy Ninevah as a result of their repentance of their sins? We read that the Ninevites were deep enemies of the Jews because the Assyrians oppressed all the Jewish Nation they conqueored. How do you relate this to people who are not like you? How about the many people who are being excluded by your church including the marginalized that may be the poor, the blacks, people of other cultures or different skin color, the immigrants whether legal or illegal, the people who have different sexual orientation, or people who are differently abled and their families? May we realize that God has calling all people to become part of His Kingdom on this earth and for Heaven. May we sing the Hymn known as the African American National Anthem:
"Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson
1. Lift Every Voice and sing till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of liberty
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
2. Sing a song, full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song, full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sum of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won
3. Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod
felt in the days when hope unborn had died
yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
4. We have come, over a way that which tears has been watered
We have come, treading out path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out of the gloomy past, till now we stand at last,
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
5. GOD of our weary years, GOD of our silent tears
Thou Who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light
Keep us for-e-ver in the path we pray
6. Lest our feet, stray from the places our GOD where me met thee
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand
TRUE TO OUR GOD, TRUE TO OUR NATIVE LAND
Gary Lee Parker
4147 Idaho Street
San Diego, California 92104-1844, United States
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Today's Devotional:
The Upper Room Daily Devotional Nashville, Tennessee, United States “What If?" for Friday, 30 January 2015 - Scripture: Luke 12:25 Can worry make you live longer?[a] 26 If you don’t have power over small things, why worry about everything else?27 Look how the wild flowers grow! They don’t work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth[b] wasn’t as well clothed as one of these flowers. 28 God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. Won’t he do even more for you? You have such little faith!
29 Don’t keep worrying about having something to eat or drink. 30 Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father knows what you need.[Footnotes:
12.25 live longer: Or “grow taller.”
12.27 Solomon with all his wealth: The Jewish people thought that Solomon was the richest person who had ever lived.]
Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”[Luke 9:23-24 (NRSV)]
Many times in life I have tormented myself with “What if?” questions, asking, “Where would I be now if only I had made this or that decision?” Other times I worry about the future: “What if this happens or what if that happens?” This habit often leaves me overwhelmed.
However, I’m coming to see that Jesus does not instruct us to live in the future or the past. We can do very little in this moment about either one. Jesus allows us to live fully in the present, where eternity and our current moment in time meet. I think that when Jesus said, “Take up their cross daily,” he meant for us to deal with our present situation, whatever that may be. He tells us to ask for and seek his guidance, and follow him. Jesus Christ is eternal, and from eternity he will shed light on the present situation to show us our way. He may give us only enough clarity and courage to take a single step forward, but it is up to us to “take up” our present situation and take that step. When we look back, we will see that our whole journey was in Jesus’ light.
The Author: Mark Harper Anderson (Pennsylvania, USA)
Thought for the Day: Today, I will follow Jesus — a single step at a time.
Prayer: Dear Lord, please help us to trust in you, that you will guide us through this present time to a glorious eternity. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those burdened by worry and doubt
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