Scripture: St. Mark 1:14-20
We start in Mark where Jesus began his first calling of his disciples, and then I want to go back to the Old Testament where God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to the wicked of that great city.
Nineveh must have been a huge city, engulfing 264,000 feet with a 100 foot wall around it. It took 40,000 men 8 years to build it.
God said to Jonah “Are they not worth saving?”
But, Jonah decided that they were heathens and not even Jews. Thus he turns his back on God’s request and heads in the other direction to Tarsus.
When have you and I turned our back on God’s request and headed in the opposite direction and not willing to fulfill God’s request?
While trying to get away from God’s request, Jonah is thrown into the sea during a terrible storm. Instead of drowning, he is swallowed by a big fish and is in the belly of the fish for 3 DAYS! And then he repents and is spat out onto dry land.
Then hearing God’s message to respond, Jonah finally went to Nineveh and preached God’s destruction and the people believed and repented from their sins.
Jonah is unhappy because he believed that God was for the Jews only, not the Gentiles.
In the story of Jonah, 3 different entities changed their mind.
1. Jonah first refused, and then decided to go.
2. The people of Nineveh, they confessed their sins after hearing about God's judgment and love.
3. God relented, sparing the Ninevites.
As a child of God, doing His bidding, one is responsible only to share the message.
God will take care of the harvest in due time. Our responsibility is to share the word, and God will take care of the harvest.
Let us pray!
