Jonah 3:1 The word of Adonai came to Yonah a second time: 2 “Set out for the great city of Ninveh, and proclaim to it the message I will give you.” 3 So Yonah set out and went to Ninveh, as Adonai had said. Now Ninveh was such a large city that it took three days just to cross it. 4 Yonah began his entry into the city and had finished only his first day of proclaiming, ‘In forty days Ninveh will be overthrown,’ 5 when the people of Ninveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.,10 When God saw by their deeds that they had turned from their evil way, he relented and did not bring on them the punishment he had threatened.(Complete Jewish Bible)
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As I write these devotions in early December, I am so aware that the world may look very different by the time you read them in mid-January. So it is all the more important to me that the general theme of trust runs through this week's readings.
We start with Jonah who exhibits a rather bizarre take on trust. Precisely because he trusts that God is gracious and forgiving, he resists God's instructions to go to the great enemy city of Nineveh to proclaim a call to repentance to a people who, in Jonah's mind, deserve no mercy. And sure enough, Nineveh repents and God forgives. This causes Jonah to despair because God was merciful in spite of Jonah's best efforts to avoid what he feared.
Can you think of anyone you hope God will never forgive? If you can't, I will gladly share my list with you. When we trust God to be just, merciful, forgiving and loving, we are compelled to repent of our own lack of those things and align our will and hope for our enemies and antagonists with God's. It is at the heart of our trust in a God, who is not like us, and thereby offers reason to hope for a future of healing and peace.
Forgiving, loving, merciful God, forgive us and transform us into forgiving, loving, merciful and trusting followers both for our own sake and for those we would have you judge and punish. Amen.
Tim Kellgren, '71
Retired Pastor of Elim Lutheran Church, Petaluma, Calif.
Jonah 3:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you."
3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across.
4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth...
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. (New Revised Standard Version)
We start with Jonah who exhibits a rather bizarre take on trust. Precisely because he trusts that God is gracious and forgiving, he resists God's instructions to go to the great enemy city of Nineveh to proclaim a call to repentance to a people who, in Jonah's mind, deserve no mercy. And sure enough, Nineveh repents and God forgives. This causes Jonah to despair because God was merciful in spite of Jonah's best efforts to avoid what he feared.
Can you think of anyone you hope God will never forgive? If you can't, I will gladly share my list with you. When we trust God to be just, merciful, forgiving and loving, we are compelled to repent of our own lack of those things and align our will and hope for our enemies and antagonists with God's. It is at the heart of our trust in a God, who is not like us, and thereby offers reason to hope for a future of healing and peace.
Forgiving, loving, merciful God, forgive us and transform us into forgiving, loving, merciful and trusting followers both for our own sake and for those we would have you judge and punish. Amen.
Tim Kellgren, '71
Retired Pastor of Elim Lutheran Church, Petaluma, Calif.
Jonah 3:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2 "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you."
3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across.
4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth...
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. (New Revised Standard Version)
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