3 Epiphany, Jan. 21
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 • Ps. 62:6-14
1 Cor. 7:29-31 • Mark 1:14-20
The Lord God calls Jonah to preach a message of judgment to the people of Nineveh: “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria, the great and vast world power that, in a series of military campaigns in the eighth century B.C., destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and reduced the southern kingdom of Judea to a vassal state. The very thought of calling these people to repentance is utterly repugnant to Jonah. Trying to flee from the Lord, Jonah sets sail for the city of Tarshish. A great storm arises, and the crew determines that Jonah’s flight from God is the cause. He is, therefore, cast into the sea and swallowed by a great fish, and then he repents of his rebellion.
Once spewed out of the fish, Johan begins his journey to the people of Nineveh. God speaks again: “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you” (3:2). It is not clear whether Jonah’s pronouncement is precisely what the Lord intended, as it seems to bear a resentment Jonah still feels for this foreign and oppressive power. Jonah says, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). Remarkably, the Ninevites and their king repent, and they do so because they hear and heed a great biblical theme: time and death.
The Ninevites turn to the one true God, and God turns in expansive mercy to a foreign people, even an enemy of the elect. The God of Israel is the God of all nations. Still, the warning rings true. Eventually, Nineveh will be no more.
The brevity of time is a common theme in the writings of St. Paul. “I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short. For the present form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:29, 31). We hear the same in the preaching of both John the Baptist and Jesus. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:14-15). Time is limited, moving to an approaching end, a fulfillment. Time is expectancy and urgency.
The Psalter, the songbook of Judaism and Christianity, compels our attention to this matter. “Wretched and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am desperate” (Ps. 88:15). “Who can live and never see death? Who can escape the power of Sheol?” (Ps. 89:48). “So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart” (Ps. 90:12). “Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Surely everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; they heap up, and do not know who will gather” (Ps. 39:4-6).
How can this be a part of the good news? If we prize temporal goods, relationships, and all the wonders and mysteries of nature as if we shall always have them, we do not esteem them enough. Live, St. Paul says, “as though” you will not always have a spouse, children, or any cherished treasure. Live under the shadow of Sheol and with hope in Christ, and your joy will, astoundingly, increase and deepen.
Look It Up: The Collect
Think About It: We will readily answer the call of our Lord Jesus Christ if we recall again and again that the time is short.