Jonah 3:1-10.  So Jonah got a second chance, he stopped running and turned back to God.  He told God that he remembered who he was (Jonah 2:7).  That probably included a real commitment to who God is, Jonah dedicated his life to the one true powerful God.  He would pay what he had promised, a life lived for the one true God (Jonah 2:9).  God still had the same plan for Jonah, the question is did Jonah really mean what he said “fro the depth of the grave”?

In today’s reading God again sends Jonah to Ninevah and he does go.  In verse 3 we learn that Ninevah was very a very large area, the reference to three days journey probably means it would take three days to walk around it.  Many scholars complain that cities were not that big in those days.  Maybe Jonah was talking about the whole Ninevah area including villages and farms.  We have no reason to doubt Jonah.  We don’t know what he means.  Later we will see that there were a lot of people living in the area he went to.

Jonah’s message has always seemed a little weak to me, “In forty days you’re going to get slammed by God.”  It doesn’t seem like he really wants them to turn to God, he doesn’t even tell them that they can get right with God.  But somehow they knew.  Maybe they were used to throwing themselves on the mercy of a god.  In verse 9 the king doesn’t seem very sure but he sure willing to try.  The problem is they just didn’t know God, he had just fixed Jonah, and he had the power and desire to fix them too.  And according to verse 10 that is just what he did.  He didn’t destroy them like he said he would.

The interesting thing here is the king (and I suppose everyone else in Ninevah) wasn’t too sure that god would have mercy.  But God did.  It never ceaseds to amaze me how forgiving God is, we don’t have to come to him with total knowledge and perfect prayers, we just need to turn toward him.  It’s like the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).  The son was returning after wasting all his father had given him, he was coming back to be a servant in his fathers house.  While he was still a ways away walking back the father ran out to him and hugged him, put a fine robe on him, and made a feast for him.  In verse 32 the father told his jealous other son, “we had to be happy for this brother of yours was dead but has begun to live”.  Wow!  God really loves us.  And he is ready to run to us with the slightest indication that we are coming back.

God all I can really say is your love is amazing.  Help me show that to others.  Help me get them to turn their heads in your direction.  If they see who you truly are they should never turn away again.

Jonah 1:17-2:10.  In yesterday’s reading we met Jonah, a prophet of God.  His job was to give messages for god to people, but in our story he dind’t like the people he was supposed to go to, so he ran. The problem is you can’t run from God, and if God want something done it will get done.  Also as we have learned reading in several prophets so far God is not content to let us runa away, the price is too high.  God works hard at getting people to come back to him and have a relationshipe with him.  It’s not forced but he will show us the down side of an eternity without him.  That’s what happens in today’s section of Jonah.

Jonah is tossed over into a raging storm, the crew think that they are sending him to certain death, but then the storm stops, they are safe.  But for Jonah there is more, he gets swallowed by a fish.  Now if you have a picture of a giant whale with a few ships inside (and maybe a choir of angles) I think you might have missed the picture here.  The language is poetic but it seems fairly clear that Jonah died in the belly of that fish.  In verse 2 he tells us that he cried from the grave.  Sheol is the place in the Old Testament where a person’s soul or spirit goes when they die.  There is no concept in the Old Testament of not existing anymore.   Verse 6 tells us that his life was in the pit.  Some scholars don’t think he died but it certainly looks like that to me.  Also in Matthew 12:40 Jesus makes a comparison between Jonah in the fish and himself in the grave.  Again it wasn’t that Jesus didn’t exist we have clear pictures of Jesus being active while he was dead (remember “death” in the Bible means separated.  A dead person is separated from their body but they still exist).  Jonah was dead but he still had conscience existence.

In verse 7 Jonah says he remembered Yahweh.  I don’t think Jonah forgot God, after all he told the sailors about him.  I thing he forgot, Yahweh.  The Hebrew means, I Am Who I Am, it tells us that God exists and always has all on his own.  That tells us that he has limitless power.  I think that is what Jonah forgot.  Look at what he does after he remembers, he talks to God and God is in his “Holy Temple”.  “Holy” means separate, special, dedicated and a temple is a place where only god belongs.  I thing he began to see God as all powerful and deserving of total obedience.  The contras in verse 8 is people who look at useless powerless manmade gods.  Those kind of people dump their gods when things go bad.  Like the sailors in the storm who gave up on their useless gods when face to face with the one true God who could make a storm rage or make the sea like a mirror.  In verse 9 Jonah makes his decision, he will give God all that he can and be thankful to God.  Verse 9 is probably two sets of parallel lines. The first and the third line match and so do the second and fourth.  So Jonah is thankful because he know no matter where he is God can care for him.  He can’t hide from God and he doesn’t need to run from God when a hard job comes up.

In verse 10 we see the miraculous result, Jonah is alive and on dry land.

We need to remember that God will do extraordinary thing to bring us back to him, but we need to respond.  I think that Jonah thought he had gotten away with it when he was swallowed by the fish, in verse 4 it sounds like he though he had finally found his hiding place, in death.  But then he realized that “even in death you re there” (Psalms 139:8).  It’s almost like Jonah was committing suicide but the truth was it’s not an end but for most of us it is appoint of no return.   Hebrews 9:27 tells us that we each die once physically then we are set for judgment.  Hebrews 3-4 teach us that we need to be serious about God’s offer and that it is for a limited time, we need to act today.  There is no changing our mind after death, there is no purgatory where we can clean out our bad deeds.  Jesus said he was the way, the truth , and the life and that if we are going to have a relationship with God it has to be through him.  WE can’t run from God and we can’t hide for God, not even in death, so we need to turn around and place our existence in his hands and follow his lead for us.  Jonah got a unique chance, he got a do over.  Like all miracles though it is a sign to us to help us believe and trust.  We need to give our lives to God and thank him for the ultimate salvation from separatin from Him (spiritual death).

God thank you for saving me.  Help me not be stubborn with my life.  Help me honor you with my life.  Thank you for loving me.  You’ve really given each of us a “do over” in Jesus help me not waste mine.