Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Jonah 1,2-2,2.10. Trinity 1

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Jonah 1,2-2,2.10. Trinity 1

Jonah 1,1-2,2.10 3421

1. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 046

Philip, Deacon, Acts 6

6. Juni 2021

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, we beseech You so to rule and govern our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, so that we may not, like the rich man, hear Your word in vain, and become so devoted to things temporal as to forget things eternal; but that we readily and according to our ability minister to such as are in need, and not defile ourselves with overindulgence and pride; in trial and misfortune keep us from despair, and grant us to put our trust wholly in Your Fatherly help and grace, so that in faith and Christian patience we may overcome all things. Amen. (Veit Dietrich)

2. »And the mariners said to one another: „Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.“ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him: „Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?“ And he answered them: „I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.“ Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, „What is this that you have done!“ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.«

3. The Psalmist proclaims: »Yahweh redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned« (Psalm 34,22). The Prophet Jonah himself acknowledges this and personally experienced Yahweh’s redemption. We know the story: Yahweh sent Jonah to Nineveh to call them to repent of their evil. Jonah rebelled and chose to flee from Yahweh will. He wound up cast overboard and eaten by a great sea monster. Jonah prayed to Yahweh: »I cry aloud in my distress to Yahweh my God, and He listened to me; from the belly/hades/Sheol I shrieked and You heard my voice.«

4. Jonah is a prime example of one who knows Yahweh’s will, but rebels against it anyway. He fled from Yahweh, his prophetic duty and the people of Nineveh. Jonah is willing to let the people of Nineveh perish from Yahweh’s wrath rather than preach to them to repent and live. Likewise the rich man saw suffering Lazarus day after day, but did nothing to ease his suffering. We likewise are tempted to live rebellious lives, fleeing from God, caring not if others suffer or blindly live day after day unaware of God’s impending wrath. Yahweh’s message to Jonah is His message to us in the 21. century: call out against the people, for their evils have ascended before Me. Before the Flood we read: »Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah: „I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth“« (Genesis 6,11-13. Before Yahweh judged Sodom and Gomorrah we read: » Yahweh said: „Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do.“ ... Then Yahweh said: „Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to Me. And if not, I will know“« (Genesis 18,17.20-21). Thus the Prophet Ezekiel proclaims: »The soul that sins shall die« (Ezekiel 18, 20).

5. Mattias Loy writes it this way in his hymns: „The Law is good; but since the fall Its holiness condemns us all; It dooms us for sin to die And has no pow’r to justify. The Gospel shows the Father’s grace, Who sent His Son to save our race, Proclaims how Jesus lived and died That we might thus be justified“ (LSB 579,5; 580,1).

6. We read in Jonah 3: »“When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it. And Jonah prayed to Yahweh and said: „O Yahweh, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that You are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and relenting from maliciousness« (Jonah 3,10; 4,2). Throughout Jonah we see that Yahweh is a merciful and gracious God who will go to great lengths to relent of His wrath and judgment. This is the very heart of the gospel: God desires to spare everyone, so much so that He sent the one person who can accomplish this, His Only-begotten Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. »For God so loved the world, that he gave His Only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned« (John 3,16-18a).

7. And a final comment from Luther: „In Matthew 12:39-14 Christ Himself drew an analogy between Himself and Jonah. This is not a complete allegory but just an illustrative comparison. For Christ refers only to Jonah’s sojourn in the sea monster, saying that He Himself will lie in the bowels of the earth as Jonah did in the sea monster. He calls it the sign of the Prophet Jonah; that means, it is a sign which bears resemblance to an experience of Jonah. He does not assign a spiritual significance to those 3 days, as is proper in spiritual interpretations. Therefore this is a comparison rather than an allegory. … Well, there is not much to be said about this, since it is common knowledge throughout the world that Christ died and rose again and that this was the miraculous sign given to the unbelieving Jews, yes, proclaimed to the entire world through the gospel to inform all how they are redeemed by the same miraculous sign and eminent Divine work and that they must adhere to this in true faith“ (Luther 102).

8. Yahweh calls us to repentance in His Scriptures through His prophets and pastors. Jesus has redeemed us from all sins and delivers that gospel of forgiveness through the Word and Sacraments. We hear and receive the salvation of Yahweh. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord, Your testimonies are righteous forever; give us understanding so that we may live. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Jonah 1,2-2,2.10. Trinity 1

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