Jonah and Jesus

It's now been 14 days since the Christian community entered the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. During that time, our church community here has been holding weekly Wednesday worship times, and the focus of these times have been the prophet Jonah.

Jonah, you may ask? Yes, Jonah works very well with the season of Lent. In fact, on at least two occasions, Jesus referred to the sign of Jonah as His sign to the world. (Read Matthew 12:38-42 and 16:1-4) In the first of these references, Jesus even mentions that He, the Son of Man, will be in the belly of the earth for three days and nights, just as Jonah was, which clearly shows His upcoming death and resurrection.

Tonight, our time focused simply on Jonah 1:17, where God provided a big fish to swallow Jonah. Now, it seems too easy to think that God sent the big fish only for Jonah's sake. But when you read the rest of Jonah's story, it seems that God provided that big fish in order to make sure that the people of Ninevah would hear God's word of repentance and forgiveness.

At the end, we were challenged to think about how God might be providing for other people through us. We, who carry God's Word of forgiveness, may be God's "Jonah" to people around us. It gives us much to think about as we journey with Jesus to the cross.