Jonah 3 (NLT)
1 Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”
3 This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. 4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”
5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:
“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”
10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
God can reward new behaviors with new mercies.
Here are some questions for discussion:
1. The people of Nineveh changed their ways THEN the king followed suit along with a proclamation to the people. Jonah didn’t speak directly to the king of, nor did the people of Nineveh petition the king, but the movement started at the bottom and worked its way up. We see a clear parallel to the ministry of Jesus and His disciples later. How can we work to emulate this today in our society? What pitfalls stand between us and such work?
2. What role does the ability or desire to lament play in receiving mercy? What would it have looked like for the people of Nineveh to skip this aspect of the change in their society? What would that kind of lament look like in your life? Our society as a whole?
If you’d like to dig a little deeper, consider the following:
1. In the text there is no promise of salvation for the people of Nineveh if they change, yet they change their ways. And while they are granted a reprieve for this change in behavior it was not promised nor can we assume such an outcome factored heavily in their decision. There is no transactional component to their change, just a change. What can we take from this?
2. From all accounts, the people of Nineveh were due some consequences for their behavior, but Jonah reluctantly brought them the warning that would save them. Knowing the danger he faced in delivering this message he went anyway. Was this inherent risk a factor in the Assyrians believing his words? What does his eventual willingness say about his ability to love the wholeness of the people of Nineveh?
For further contemplation, consider these prompts:
1. The people of Nineveh grieved their current state when Jonah came to them, and in this grief they were able to see what had been missed before. Considering our current societies, what would it take for us to consider our past and present in such a way that we could find ourselves grieving where we are today? What would that communal grief look like for us as a whole and us as individuals?
2. The judgement that was coming for the people of Nineveh was coming for them all, great and small…wicked and innocent. Reading the words of D. Bonhoeffer, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.” What is there of innocence in a society built on evil, pursuing evil, and demonstrating evil daily? We are commanded by Jesus to take up our cross daily, that we will be persecuted for our faith. Can any of us call ourselves innocent if we remain silent today? Where does our repentance and lamentation begin?