Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

He was swallowed by a fish because God had commanded him to go to Nineveh and proclaim their destruction unless they turned their ways and repented.

Nineveh was the greatest city in the known world at that time.

It was the capital of Assyria.

And it was an empire that terrified all the lands around it, including Jonah's Jewish communities.

So God says, go to Nineveh and proclaim their destruction.

And Jonah says, I don't think so.

And so he ran away.

And he got on a boat thinking, if I go on the sea as far as I can, God can't find me.

Well, a big storm came up.

Jonah was thrown overboard and then was gobbled up by the fish.

We know he was then spit up on dry land.

And the moral of the story is God does not relent.

God did not relent with Jonah.

He didn't withdraw the call to Jonah to preach to Nineveh about their destruction.

And so at that point, Jonah says, okay, I better get going.

And he got going.

Jonah went to Nineveh and he preached a very short message to the people of Nineveh.

In 40 days, if you continue your sinful, violent, oppressive ways, you will be destroyed.

I'm sure Jonah thought he would be run out of town when he said that, or maybe something worse.

And after he proclaims that message, Jonah goes outside the city walls, sits under a bush, and waits to see God's punishment.

Astonishingly, Nineveh repents.

The people repent.

The king repents.

The people turn from violence and oppression and corruption.

They try to live in alignment with God's will.