The reading this morning was taken from the 1st chapter of Jonah verses 1-16.
The Apollo 13 space mission was considered a successful failure. They failed to land on the moon but they succeeded in getting the astronauts back after their ship had a catastrophic failure.
Jonah was a failure but eventually succeeded. His name means "dove", the symbol of peace, and of restoration and hope.
Most people know the story of Jonah, how he was commanded by God to go to Nineveh and tell them to repent or perish, but, since Jonah hated the Ninevites and wanted to see them perish he ran the other way.
Jonah was the only prophet to ever run away from God.
In Isaiah 6:8 Isaiah was asked "Who will I send" and he responded "Here am I, send me". Moses was asked a similar question and his response was something like "Here am I, send Aaron". Jonah's response was "Here am I, but I'm headed the other way".
Jonah forgot that you can't escape from Gog because He is omnipresent.
Richard.
I had to smile with the AWOL... Great story of Jonah ..
ReplyDeleteHe couldn't excape..
A lot of ppl in Nineveh 120,000..
A daunting task, just to start talking about the "man himself" who wanted to know?? Where would he start??
It does make one think of "What do I say "?,
after all they didn't go to Uni and study..
Have a blessed day :))