The Commemoration of Jonah, Prophet

Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Jonah, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Reading:  The Book of Jonah

About Jonah:

A singular prophet among the many in the Old Testament, Jonah the son of Amittai was born about an hour’s walk from the town of Nazareth. The focus of his prophetic ministry was the call to preach at Nineveh, the capital of pagan Assyria(Jonah 1:2). His reluctance to respond and God’s insistence that His call be heeded is the story of the book that bears Jonah’s name. Although the swallowing and disgorging of Jonah by the great fish is the most remembered detail of his life, it is addressed in only three verses of the book (Jonah1:17; 2:1, 10). Throughout the book, the important theme is how God deals compassionately with sinners. Jonah’s three-day sojourn in the belly of the fish is mentioned by Jesus as a sign of His own death, burial, and resurrection (Matthew12:39-41). (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, published by Concordia Publishing House;  for more on Jonah go here.)

Reflection:

We simply stand under God’s overflowing grace like rain, allowing its cool refreshment to fill our dry cracks. Then we pick up the bucket and dump it on someone else. Grace flows from Yahweh not on those who attempt to earn it, but on those who confess their need for it. The Spirit-empowered response is then to share it. But Jonah is like the angry older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:28-30): he views God’s lavish welcome for undeserving sinners who repent as an insult to his “deserving” self. The prophet has yet to embrace the Law and Gospel character of God expressed in James 2:13: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (From Dr. Reed Lesssing’s Commentary on Jonah)

Jesus made a comparison between Himself and Jonah when He was asked for sign, see St. Matthew 12: 38-42.   Here are some more details of a comparison between Jesus and Jonah.

Jonah ran away and the Lord ran to His people.

Jonah ran away twice.   The Lord never runs away and He sought Jonah twice, as He sought Adam, you, more than twice.

The Lord put Jonah in the belly of the great fish because Jonah refused to preach repentance to Ninevah. The Lord was put in the belly of great fish, death, “the heart of the earth”, because He preached repentance.

The Lord heard Jonah cry out in prayer in the belly of the great fish  to be saved and he was heard. The Lord cried out, not for His salvation (as He did not need to), but ours and He was heard:  “It is finished” (John 19:30).

The Lord punished Jonah in the belly of the great fish. The Lord took on the punishment which He did not deserve, the chastisement of us all, that makes us whole (cf. Isaiah 53).  He was not punished for His sin, for He had none, but He became sin.

The Lord called Jonah to preach His Word. The Lord is the Word made flesh (St. John 1: 14), God’s own sermon to us all and in particular in His three nights in the heart of  the earth, preaching our salvation by faith through His grace through the Word of His blood (cf.Hebrews 12:24).

The Lord caused the great fish to spew Jonah out of the belly of the great fish. The Lord laid down His life to take it up again and death could not hold Him (John 10:18).

Jonah was disappointed and angry that the Ninevites repented and that the Lord did not destroy them.  Jesus rejoices that so many came to faith and He sent out His apostles with the message of the Kingdom of God.

Jonah was swallowed by the great fish. Jesus swallowed up death itself.

 Behold, something greater than Jonah is here!  Allelulia!

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The Commemoration of Jonah, Prophet, 22 September, anno Domini 2,014

Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Jonah, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

About Jonah:

A singular prophet among the many in the Old Testament, Jonah the son of Amittai was born about an hour’s walk from the town of Nazareth. The focus of his prophetic ministry was the call to preach at Nineveh, the capital of pagan Assyria(Jonah 1:2). His reluctance to respond and God’s insistence that His call be heeded is the story of the book that bears Jonah’s name. Although the swallowing and disgorging of Jonah by the great fish is the most remembered detail of his life, it is addressed in only three verses of the book (Jonah1:17; 2:1, 10). Throughout the book, the important theme is how God deals compassionately with sinners. Jonah’s three-day sojourn in the belly of the fish is mentioned by Jesus as a sign of His own death, burial, and resurrection (Matthew12:39-41). (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, published by Concordia Publishing House;  for more on Jonah go here.)

Reflection:

We simply stand under God’s overflowing grace like rain, allowing its cool refreshment to fill our dry cracks. Then we pick up the bucket and dump it on someone else. Grace flows from Yahweh not on those who attempt to earn it, but on those who confess their need for it. The Spirit-empowered response is then to share it. But Jonah is like the angry older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:28-30): he views God’s lavish welcome for undeserving sinners who repent as an insult to his “deserving” self. The prophet has yet to embrace the Law and Gospel character of God expressed in James 2:13: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (From Dr. Reed Lesssing’s Commentary on Jonah)

Jesus was asked by the scribes and Pharisees for a “sign”, a miracle.  

³⁹ But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Jesus made a comparison between Himself and Jonah.  Here are some details of that comparison:

Jonah ran away.

The Lord ran to His people.

 

Jonah ran away twice.

 The Lord never runs away and He sought Jonah twice,as He sought Adam, you, more than twice.

 

The Lord put Jonah in the belly of the great fish because Jonah refused to preach repentance to Ninevah.

The Lord was put in the belly of great fish, death, “the heart of the earth”, because He  preached repentance.

 

The Lord heard Jonah cry out in prayer in the belly of the great fish  to be saved and he was heard.

The Lord cried out, not for His salvation (as He did not need to), but ours and He was heard:  “It is finished” (John 19:30).

 

The Lord punished Jonah in the belly of the great fish.

The Lord took on the punishment which He did not deserve, the chastisement of us all, that makes us whole (cf. Isaiah 53)

 

The Lord called Jonah to preach His Word.

The Lord is the Word made flesh (St. John 1: 14), God’s own sermon to us all and in particular in His three nights in the heart of  the earth, preaching our salvation by faith through His grace through the Word of His blood (cf.Hebrews 12:24).

 

The Lord caused the great fish to spew Jonah out of the belly of the great fish. 

The Lord laid down His life to take it up again and death could not hold Him (John 10:18).

 

Jonah was swallowed by the great fish

Jesus swallowed up death itself.

 Behold, something greater than Jonah is here!  Allelulia!

 

 

 

 

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• Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.

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Jonah and Jesus: A Comparison

The appointed New Testament reading for today (10/14/13)  in the Daily Lectionary is  St. Matthew 12: 38-50.  This Lord’s comparison between Himself and Jonah is found here:  Matthew 12:38-40. Based upon these verses, and other verses. these are some of the similarities and differences between Jonah and Jesus for your edification and encouragement:

• Both were sent to preach repentance (Jonah 3: 1;  St. Matthew 4: 17).
• Both preached the Word to the Gentiles (John 4: 1-45).
• Both spent three days and three nights in the belly of a beast.
• Both Jonah and Jesus are “signs” to their generations and ours as well.

I think here is where the similarities end, as Jesus said,  “…behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” (St. Matthew 12: 41)

• Jonah fled from his calling to preach repentance.   Jesus did not but He  purposely sought to preach repentance (Matthew 4:17),  and He sent the Apostles to do the same (St. Luke 24: 47)
• Jonah fled from the Presence of the LORD, Jesus always sought the Presence of His Father (Matthew 14:23;   Matthew 26:36; Luke 2:49).
• Jonah was embittered at God’s grace for the Ninevites that they repented and the Lord saved them (Jonah 4:2);  Jesus rejoices always over the repentance of one sinner (Luke 15).
• Jonah lived in the belly of the great fish for 3 days and 3 night, Jesus did not so live (Luke 9:22).
• Jonah was thrown into the deeps of the sea to save the sailors on that ship (Jonah 1);  Jesus was thrown into the depths by us all  thereby  forgiving us all and so saving all those who by faith believe on His Name (John 1:12-14) . 

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The Commemoration of Jonah, Prophet, 22 September

General Intro to Commemorations of Old Testament:  The introduction of Old Testament saints into the cycle of commemorations in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is most welcome because it is most Biblical.  We may not think of the Old Testament worthies as “Saint”, but think again!  Hebrews 11 has been called the “hall of heroes”, or I call it the roll-call of the saints in Christ and all of them as recorded in the Old Testament!  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, they put “St.” in front of the OT saints, so:  St. Jonah!  It is these saints who first cheer us  on and encourage us saints in Christ Jesus to persevere, as recorded in Hebrews 12, the crescendo of the roll-call:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

 

Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Jonah, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

About Jonah:

A singular prophet among the many in the Old Testament, Jonah the son of Amittai was born about an hour’s walk from the town of Nazareth. The focus of his prophetic ministry was the call to preach at Nineveh, the capital of pagan Assyria(Jonah 1:2). His reluctance to respond and God’s insistence that His call be heeded is the story of the book that bears Jonah’s name. Although the swallowing and disgorging of Jonah by the great fish is the most remembered detail of his life, it is addressed in only three verses of the book (Jonah1:17; 2:1, 10). Throughout the book, the important theme is how God deals compassionately with sinners. Jonah’s three-day sojourn in the belly of the fish is mentioned by Jesus as a sign of His own death, burial, and resurrection (Matthew12:39-41). (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, published by Concordia Publishing House)

Reflection:

Many years ago, when I first read Jonah on my own, no longer in Sunday School, I was amazed by it!  Now if you have not read it (it’s short, more like a short story), this is a spoiler alert. Just skip the rest of the reflection!  Read/re-read  Jonah  and come back for the reflection. 

Did you read/re-read Jonah?  Notice that in chapters 1-3, we are not told why Jonah runs away when the Lord called him to preach to the great capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah.  Oh, Jonah was reluctant prophet, we were taught.  Yes, he was, but  reluctance is the result, not the cause.  We are not told why he was reluctant.

When Ninevah, from the King down, repents, the Lord forgives and changes His mind about His judgment towards them.  The Lord takes no pleasure in  the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their evil to the Lord and live (see Ezekiel 33:11).  So Jonah, after Ninevah’s repentance unto life in the Lord’s grace, parks himself outside of the great city and we are told he is angry. Dr. Reed Lessing (professor OT, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in his commentary Jonah), points out that  the 4 times the word anger appears (really:  infuriated),it is in the last chapter and it’s subject is Jonah!  Why was he angry?  Finally, after all the action in the first 3 chapters we find out that his anger is coupled with the reason why he fled to Tarshish and away from  the Lord’s call, from Dr. Reed’s translation:  “For this reason I previously fled toward Tarshish because I knew you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, and changing your verdict about evil.”  Jonah fled because of God’s grace! He fled because He did not destroy the Gentile Assyrians!  Jonah’s true confession of the Faith (“…you are a gracious and merciful God, etc.) becomes in Jonah’s heart and mouth his accusation against the Lord! Is your evil because I myself am good? (see  Matthew 20:1:  literal translation of the second question!). Yes.  Ask any congregation, ‘do you want to grow?’ and the answer is yes.  But I would maintain we may  not want this to happen  to the point of those people joining who don’t deserve it like we do who have “…borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat”  (Matthew 20: 12) and they receive the same, even the most wicked and at the 11th hour:  the Lord’s free gift of grace to all who hunger and thirst, and repent and turn to the Lord (see Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Matthew 20: 1-16/ Matthew 20 ).  From Dr. Lessing’s commentary:

We simply stand under God’s overflowing grace like rain, allowing its cool refreshment to fill our dry cracks. Then we pick up the bucket and dump it on someone else. Grace flows from Yahweh not on those who attempt to earn it, but on those who confess their need for it. The Spirit-empowered response is then to share it. But Jonah is like the angry older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:28-30): he views God’s lavish welcome for undeserving sinners who repent as an insult to his “deserving” self. The prophet has yet to embrace the Law and Gospel character of God expressed in James 2:13: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

One last thought:  Jonah ran away twice.  The Lord never runs away and He sought Jonah twice.   Blessed Jonah’s Day

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The Commemoration of Jonah, Prophet, September 22nd, anno Domini 2,012

General Intro to Commemorations of Old Testament:  The introduction of Old Testament saints into the cycle of commemorations in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is most welcome because it is most Biblical.  We may not think of the Old Testament worthies as “Saint”, but think again!  Hebrews 11 has been called the “hall of heroes”, or I call it the roll-call of the saints in Christ and all of them as recorded in the Old Testament!  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, they put “St.” in front of the OT saints, so:  St. Jonah!  It is these saints who first cheer us  on and encourage us saints in Christ Jesus to persevere, as recorded in Hebrews 12, the crescendo of the roll-call:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now let’s look at St. Jonah!

Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Jonah, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

About Jonah:

A singular prophet among the many in the Old Testament, Jonah the son of Amittai was born about an hour’s walk from the town of Nazareth. The focus of his prophetic ministry was the call to preach at Nineveh, the capital of pagan Assyria(Jonah 1:2). His reluctance to respond and God’s insistence that His call be heeded is the story of the book that bears Jonah’s name. Although the swallowing and disgorging of Jonah by the great fish is the most remembered detail of his life, it is addressed in only three verses of the book (Jonah1:17; 2:1, 10). Throughout the book, the important theme is how God deals compassionately with sinners. Jonah’s three-day sojourn in the belly of the fish is mentioned by Jesus as a sign of His own death, burial, and resurrection (Matthew12:39-41). (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, published by Concordia Publishing House)

Reflection:

Many years ago, when I first read Jonah on my own, no longer in Sunday School, I was amazed by it!  Now if you have not read it (it’s short, more like a short story), this is a spoiler alert. Just skip the rest of the reflection!  Read/re-read  Jonah  and come back for the reflection. 

Did you read/re-read Jonah?  Notice that in chapters 1-3, we are not told why Jonah runs away when the Lord called him to preach to the great capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah.  Oh, Jonah was reluctant prophet, we were taught.  Yes, he was, but  reluctance is the result, not the cause.  We are not told why he was reluctant.

When Ninevah, from the King down, repents, the Lord forgives and changes His mind about His judgment towards them.  The Lord takes no pleasure in  the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their evil to the Lord and live (see Ezekiel 33:11).  So Jonah, after Ninevah’s repentance unto life in the Lord’s grace, parks himself outside of the great city and we are told he is angry. Dr. Reed Lessing (professor OT, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in his commentary Jonah), points out that  the 4 times the word anger appears (really:  infuriated),it is in the last chapter and it’s subject is Jonah!  Why was he angry?  Finally, after all the action in the first 3 chapters we find out that his anger is coupled with the reason why he fled to Tarshish and away from  the Lord’s call, from Dr. Reed’s translation:  “For this reason I previously fled toward Tarshish because I knew you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, and changing your verdict about evil.”  Jonah fled because of God’s grace! He fled because He did not destroy the Gentile Assyrians!  Jonah’s true confession of the Faith (“…you are a gracious and merciful God, etc.) becomes in Jonah’s heart and mouth his accusation against the Lord! Is your evil because I myself am good? (see  Matthew 20:1:  literal translation of the second question!). Yes.  Ask any congregation, ‘do you want to grow?’ and the answer is yes.  But I would maintain we may  not want this to happen  to the point of those people joining who don’t deserve it like we do who have “…borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat”  (Matthew 20: 12) and they receive the same, even the most wicked and at the 11th hour:  the Lord’s free gift of grace to all who hunger and thirst, and repent and turn to the Lord (see Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Matthew 20: 1-16/ Matthew 20 ).  From Dr. Lessing’s commentary:

We simply stand under God’s overflowing grace like rain, allowing its cool refreshment to fill our dry cracks. Then we pick up the bucket and dump it on someone else. Grace flows from Yahweh not on those who attempt to earn it, but on those who confess their need for it. The Spirit-empowered response is then to share it. But Jonah is like the angry older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:28-30): he views God’s lavish welcome for undeserving sinners who repent as an insult to his “deserving” self. The prophet has yet to embrace the Law and Gospel character of God expressed in James 2:13: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

One last thought:  Jonah ran away twice.  The Lord never runs away and He sought Jonah twice.   Blessed Jonah’s Day

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Sermon for the Third Sunday of Pascha (Easter), anno Domini 2,012

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

 The Lord Jesus refers to a 3-fold division of the Scriptures, which is the Old Testament:  the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Everything is written about Him so we can read for ourselves and be fed the bread of His Word.  Here are but three examples of the way the Scripture is fulfilled in Jesus Christ:

• The Law of Moses: After 40 days and nights of fasting, the Lord is tempted sorely three times by the devil, each time Jesus responds, It is written and each time cites a Scripture passage from the Law of Moses, specifically from Deuteronomy.
• The Prophets:  When Jesus comes intoGalilee preaching repentance and the reign of God, that is the forgiveness of sins, this was to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah preached in Isaiah  9: 1 and 2.
• The Psalms:  When Jesus was upon the Cross, dying for your life here and to eternal life, He prayed Psalm 22: 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Law of Moses, Prophets and Psalms are all the Word God fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you…” That is in His earthly ministry. He had preached this sermon, in fact 3 times.  Three times Jesus prophesies that He must be suffer, die and rise on the third day.  In Mark’s Gospel the three passion prophecies begin at8: 31,9: 31 and10: 34.  He says this must happen: His Cross is God’s just must for our forgiveness, so that He might bear wounds and be our Healer of body and soul.  The man in Solomon’s portico by Christ Jesus’ word could walk.  So we have legs and walk in the newness of life.  The three-fold division of Scripture points to the three fold must of Jesus Christ. Everything in Scripture points to the fact and act of salvation in Jesus Christ.   Jesus lived and breathed Scripture. When He was tempted, after fasting 40 days and nights, He had no revelation.  He was met by the Devil and sorely tempted three times and three times, He began:  It is written.  Scripture, God’s Word is food, defense and reasonable.  We need His Word day by day. 

Two statements that are true and complement each other regarding the Bible:

• All of Scripture is God’s Word.
• All of Scripture points us to Jesus Christ.

All of Scripture is God’s Word, Law or Promise because as Jesus first cited Scripture to the devil, Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  Every Word is trustworthy, true, infallible and without mistake.

All of Scripture points us to Jesus Christ by what He has done in His death and resurrection so we can walk in repentance and forgiveness.

All of Scripture is God’s Word. As also Jesus said: You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…” There Scripture is true in all its words

 All of Scripture points us to Jesus Christ. “…you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3)

• All of Scripture is God’s Word.
• All of Scripture points us to Jesus Christ

Both statements are necessary, if we leave one out, we get lost.  There are those who say that All of Scripture is God’s Word but do not proclaim they point us to Jesus Christ, and then legalism arises pointing us to ourselves and our works instead of His good work.  Every word is true, that is right, but the purpose of  God’s Word to direct us to the Word made flesh is not clear.  These preachers do not point us to Jesus.

Then, there are those who say all Scripture points us to the Gospel of our redemption, but not all of the Scripture is for our life together. The Gospel means we are free to do whatever we want that is to keep on “practice sinning” (1 John 3: 1-7). These folks are the first to say the Bible is riddled with mistakes.  Both statements go together, here in the Bible are God’s Words, faithful, true and infallible, unmistakable, and so infallibly pointing us to Jesus Christ., as He said, “…written about Me…”

An example of the two statements in today’s Gospel.  Our Lord said He rose on the third day in fulfillment of Scripture:  but which Scripture?  Jesus said: For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  Jesus says that Jonah points to Him and therefore Jonah is reliable and true.

• God commanded Jonah to preach repentance and the hope of salvation to Ninevah and he ran the other way.
• Jesus Christ came to preach repentance and the reign of God and ran right into the world, the flesh and the devil. He did not run the other way.
• When Jonah ran the other way he took ship to do so and a great storm arose.  The sailors realized God caused the storm because of Jonah, so they threw him into the sea and the sea ceased it’s raging.  When Jesus was thrown into the depths of chaos, there was peace because He bore our sin.
• The great fish swallowed Jonah as punishment by God.  Jesus deserved no punishment because He was without sin but upon was the chastisement that made us to bear our sin and be our Savior.
• The great fish spit up Jonah on to the dry ground, according to God’s command because Jonah had repented, then he preached God’s Word to Ninevah. When Jesus arose from the “heart of the earth”, because hell and Satan could not stomach Him, He preached God’s Word and charge His Church to do so in the “Ninevah of this world” (Gerhard).

Perspicacity of Scripture:  it is clear in all its parts.    It is so crystal clear: 

Law:

• You shall have no other gods before Me
• Honor your father and your mother,
• You shall commit adultery.
• O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
•    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
• Sin is lawlessness.

Gospel:

• “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son…”
• The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…”
• “Take, eat, this is My Body”
• “Come to me all who are burden and heavy-laden and I will give you rest…”
• “He opened their minds to the Scripture…”
• “You have put more joy in my heart
•    than they have when their grain and wine abound.
• “Men ofIsrael, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?
• See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

I do not need to have a Phd in theology to understand the Bible.  The usual lament about the Bible is that it is so difficult to understand.  It is at times. However, a musician does not know and understand every piece of music, an artist every work of art, a chemist every equation, etc. but they can all do their vocation well. So can we.  We need to read the Bible daily because daily we need to be so fed by what we have read.  “I don’t have the time.” If I can watch Big Bang theory for a half an hour, I have time for the Scripture.

The great orator of ancient Rome, Cicero said: “Read at every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one goes in; read as one goest out. The task of the educated mind is simply put: read to lead.”  This also is true regarding the Lord’s written word in the Bible. In Jesus Christ, His Word in the Bible becomes the times of refreshing. Read to lead.  Read to lead and so serve someone who might be lost.  Read to lead to stay true to the way who is Jesus. Read to lead and we are so led.  The task of the saved mind is simply put:  read to lead.

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Sermon for the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany

And the people of Nineveh believed God. Jonah 3: 5a

             One of the 10 ten lists for 2011 was Worst Expressions of the previous year.  One of those expressions was “whatever”.

• “I think it is really important whom we elect as president.”  “Yeah, whatever.”
• “I am exhausted today. Looking forward to going home and doing nothing, hopefully you’re up for the same?” “Yeah, whatever.”
• “They bombed a foreign nation without cable TV. Millions died.” “Whatever. They’re making another Temptation Island.” “Sweet.”

It connotes a dismissive attitude, apathy, even contempt.  I can’t imagine telling my daughter when she asks me if she likes what she is wearing: “whatever”…but then again…but when it’s something not right, there is no ‘whatever’!   I can’t imagine telling a friend that there are lies being told about you and him saying:  “whatever”.  I can’t the music teacher telling me I played real well and I respond:  “whatever”.  “Whatever” is a signal of utter moral apathy, that faithfulness and obedience do not matter, but of course ‘whatever’ clearly does not work because it is not true, but a lie.

Many churches teach a “whatever” God when it comes to matters of morality.  Today marks the 39^th year of Roe vs. Wade legalizing abortion on demand, pro-death.  “Whatever” is the response of many Christians and denominations  to the death of over 54,000,000 lives.  “Whatever” is sloth writ large.  Note:  We want a “whatever” God for ourselves, but not necessarily for others.

Beloved in the Lord we do not have a ‘whatever’ God. He cared for the people of Ninevah, a city of pagans, not even Jews, with the message of imminent judgment for their wickedness because the Lord does not desire the death of the wicked but they turn from their darkness and live in the light of His mercy. The Lord sent a very reluctant prophet to do so and the Lord had to really hang in with Jonah to even get him into Ninevah to preach!  Jonah turned tail and went on a ship and turned away from the Lord. But the  Lord did not say, whatever.  He got Jonah’s attention with that whale.  When Jonah had heard the Ninevites had repented, he parked himself out side the city waiting and hoping for their destruction and he was angry that the Lord did not wipe them out.  The last verse of Jonah:  “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?  Beloved, we do not have a “whatever” God but a “because” Lord:  Because I pity Ninevah, I sent you Jonah with my Word of Law that they might believe the promise and repent, turning away from their sin, not to burn but to turn to Me and live in My mercy.

And the people of Nineveh believed God.

They took the Lord at His Word, because He sent His prophet to them with His Word, because He had pity on Ninevah.  The Lord sent His judges, prophets, and saints with His Word because He has mercy on those who fear Him in every generation.  The family members and friends in your life were not “whatever” friends and family members, but “because” saints: because they cared and loved you they did the hard work of saying “no” where and when you had gone astray, or could do so. They said “yes” to help you return and stay the course with their presence, advice, counsel and most of all, prayers.  God’s Word does that and the Ninevites believed God.

In the fullness of time, at the right time, He sent His Son with the message of joyful repentance Repent and believe the Gospel for  kingdom of God is  at hand.

Why?  He, “…desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy)  Because…He cares for us more than we obviously do for ourselves.  He says No to wrong and in that return to Him, we hear the Yes of His forgiveness. the Ninevites believed God, believed the Gospel of His mercy to those who repent.  Repent and forgiven, always in that order.  “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24)  Again, the first words out of Jesus’ mouth in the Gospel are repentance and forgiveness.  We speak much about the programs of ‘our’ church, usually self-made ones.  For instance:  Pot-lucks are great but they ain’t the Gospel.  The program of the Church, Jesus Christ’s Church is His promise, so that Ninevah might believe, fishermen leave their nets and fish for men, that men and women be saved from the depths of sin, death and the devil.  Our program is not ‘whatever’, it is “because”, because he has chosen us upon the cross from the foundations of the world in His mercy.  His Cross is not “whatever’, by no means!  Now in Him there is no death because, because He is risen, He is the life of all the living, the death of death our foe and all live unto Him.  We can not say ‘whatever’ to the wrongs which we see, as in abortion.

He is not only the ‘because’ God but also the ‘whenever’ and ‘wherever’ Lord. Whenever and wherever we are we may turn to Him.  Repentance is not a one time deal but a daily life in Him, turning to Him in prayer. As The Small Catechism correctly teaches regarding this baptismal life in Jesus Christ:

It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.  Call upon Him while He is near.  The reign of God is at hand, in His hand, with the mark of the nails.  As we prayed in the Psalm refrain today:

¹For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
² He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

There is no ‘whatever’ in prayer, but whenever and wherever we are, in faith we repent, turn toward Him, and like coming out of a storm on sea, we are on the solid ground of His daily forgiveness.  And as the Psalmist also prayed:

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.

He keeps us steadfast in His Word in the good fight of faith.  I say this in order “to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord”, from today’s Epistle. As the Psalmist prayed that he met resistance and so was shaken.  We think our hearts can be made sure with riches but as our pocketbooks go up and down, so does our faith. Republican and Democratic promise wealth but our hope is not on Capitol Hill but the hill called Golgotha where and when He died and rose for you.   I say this so that we might cast the net of His Word to fish for those who are greatly shaken, as we all can be, have been, and will be, and land upon the rock, salvation and fortress, the mighty fortress who is our God who called us out of the depths in Holy Baptism to live before Him in righteousness and purity forever, His sheer gift of grace through faith by His Cross, as we receive today again, His Body and His Blood.  Now may the peace of God which surpasses all human understandings will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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Commemoration of Jonah, Prophet, September 22nd, anno Domini 2,011

General Intro to Commemorations of Old Testament:  The introduction of Old Testament saints into the cycle of commemorations in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is most welcome because it is most Biblical.  We may not think of the Old Testament worthies as “Saint”, but think again!  Hebrews 11 has been called the “hall of heroes”, or I call it the roll-call of the saints in Christ and all of them as recorded in the Old Testament!  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, they put “St.” in front of the OT saints, so:  St. Jonah!  It is these saints who first cheer us  on and encourage us saints in Christ Jesus to persevere, as recorded in Hebrews 12, the crescendo of the roll-call:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now let’s look at St. Jonah!

Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Jonah, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness. Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

About Jonah:

A singular prophet among the many in the Old Testament, Jonah the son of Amittai was born about an hour’s walk from the town of Nazareth. The focus of his prophetic ministry was the call to preach at Nineveh, the capital of pagan Assyria(Jonah 1:2). His reluctance to respond and God’s insistence that His call be heeded is the story of the book that bears Jonah’s name. Although the swallowing and disgorging of Jonah by the great fish is the most remembered detail of his life, it is addressed in only three verses of the book (Jonah1:17; 2:1, 10). Throughout the book, the important theme is how God deals compassionately with sinners. Jonah’s three-day sojourn in the belly of the fish is mentioned by Jesus as a sign of His own death, burial, and resurrection (Matthew12:39-41). (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, published by Concordia Publishing House)

Reflection:

Many years ago, when I first read Jonah on my own, no longer in Sunday School, I was amazed by it!  Now if you have not read it (it’s short, more like a short story), this is a spoiler alert. Just skip the rest of the reflection!  Read Jonah  and come back for the reflection. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you read/re-read Jonah?  Notice that in chapters 1-3, we are not told why Jonah runs away when the Lord called him to preach to the great capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah.  Oh, Jonah was reluctant prophet, we were taught.  Yes, he was, but  reluctance is the result, not the cause.  We are not told why he was reluctant.

When Ninevah, from the King down, repents, the Lord forgives and changes His mind about His judgment towards them.  The Lord takes no pleasure in  the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their evil to the Lord and live (see Ezekiel 33:11).  So Jonah, after Ninevah’s repentance unto life in the Lord’s grace, parks himself outside of the great city and we are told he is angry. Dr. Reed Lessing (professor OT, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in his commentary Jonah), points out that  the 4 times the word anger appears (really:  infuriated),it is in the last chapter and it’s subject is Jonah!  Why was he angry?  Finally, after all the action in the first 3 chapters we find out that his anger is coupled with the reason why he fled to Tarshish and away from  the Lord’s call, from Dr. Reed’s translation:  “For this reason I previously fled toward Tarshish because I knew you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, and changing your verdict about evil.”  Jonah fled because of God’s grace! He fled because He did not destroy the Gentile Assyrians!  Jonah’s true confession of the Faith (“…you are a gracious and merciful God, etc.) becomes in Jonah’s heart and mouth his accusation against the Lord! Is your evil because I myself am good? (see  Matthew 20:1:  literal translation of the second question!). Yes.  Ask any congregation, ‘do you want to grow?’ and the answer is yes.  But I would maintain we may  not want this to happen  to the point of those people joining who don’t deserve it like we do who have “…borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat”  (Matthew 20: 12) and they receive the same, even the most wicked and at the 11th hour:  the Lord’s free gift of grace to all who hunger and thirst, and repent and turn to the Lord (see Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Matthew 20: 1-16/ Matthew 20 ).  From Dr. Lessing’s commentary:

We simply stand under God’s overflowing grace like rain, allowing its cool refreshment to fill our dry cracks. Then we pick up the bucket and dump it on someone else. Grace flows from Yahweh not on those who attempt to earn it, but on those who confess their need for it. The Spirit-empowered response is then to share it. But Jonah is like the angry older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:28-30): he views God’s lavish welcome for undeserving sinners who repent as an insult to his “deserving” self. The prophet has yet to embrace the Law and Gospel character of God expressed in James 2:13: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

One last thought:  Jonah ran away twice.  The Lord never runs away and He sought Jonah twice.   Blessed Jonah’s Day!

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