Luke 11:29-32

Jonah 3:1-10

Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19

Luke 11:29-32

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,

“This generation is an evil generation;

it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,

except the sign of Jonah.

Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,

so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

At the judgment

the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation

and she will condemn them,

because she came from the ends of the earth

to hear the wisdom of Solomon,

and there is something greater than Solomon here.

At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation

and condemn it,

because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,

and there is something greater than Jonah here.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you are constant in your call to me to repent, to turn from a life of sin to a life of grace. I want this so much. Sin leaves me empty and unfulfilled. Only you truly satisfy my deepest desires. My happiness is in you alone.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Jonah’s Call to Repentance: The main message of the Book of Jonah is that God wants all people, not just Israel, to repent from their sins and receive his merciful salvation. When Jonah first heard the call of God to preach repentance to Assyria, the ancient enemy of Israel, he refused to do it. The last thing Jonah wanted was for the capital city of the Assyrians, Nineveh, to be spared! That is why Jonah tried to flee by ship to Tarshish to get as far from the city of Nineveh as possible. 

2. Irony in Jonah: The story of Jonah is full of irony and contrasts. Jonah experienced God’s mercy when he was saved from drowning by the fish and protected from the sun by a plant that miraculously grew in one night. And yet, Jonah was angry when God was merciful to the repentant Ninevites. Are we like Jonah? Have we experienced God’s mercy yet are hesitant to be merciful toward others? Jonah’s call to repentance does not fall on deaf ears. The people of Nineveh believed and performed public penances, including fasting and wearing scratchy sackcloth, to avert the coming judgment of God upon the city.

3. The Sign of Jonah: In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus refers to the preaching of Jonah and recalls how the people of Nineveh responded to it. Jesus tells his listeners that they are experiencing something greater than Jonah. Because of this, Jesus says that, at the Last Judgment, it will go better for the ancient Ninevites who heard Jonah than for the generation who heard Jesus’ preaching and call to repentance.  The Ninevites saw no signs or miracles and yet they believed the simple message of the prophet Jonah. The people in Jesus’ day saw the signs and miracles Jesus performed and yet refused to repent and believe. In his words, Jesus is also alluding to the future preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles by the Apostles. Like the Gentiles who responded to Jonah’s call to repent, the Gentiles throughout the Mediterranean will respond to the Apostles and their call to repent and believe in the Gospel.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I want to believe. Help my unbelief! Increase my faith, hope, and love. I want to live the Gospel in my life so that I may attain eternal glory with you.

Resolution: This Lent, we have heard both Jonah’s and Jesus’s call to repentance. We have been invited to turn from sin and from the things of this passing world to God. We should not attempt to do this by relying on our own efforts. Any true conversion we have or any true repentance we manifest must be empowered by the gift of God’s grace. We cannot save ourselves; we can only cooperate with God’s saving grace and action. How will I repent today?