Tag: sign of Jonah

Morning Prayer: 25 Feb – Jon 3:1-10; Lk 11:29-32 ~ they turned from their evil way

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence and prayer:

Blessed be Christ our Saviour. In him we become a new creation, the old order passes and all things are renewed.

You promised us, Lord, a new heaven and a new earth; renew us in Your Spirit, that we may come to the new Jerusalem and rejoice in You for ever. Grant that we may put aside our apathy; help us to recognize with joy the power You have given us. Set us free from all evil; show us in the confusion of our lives the things that really matter. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

A Reading from the Old Testament: Jonah 3:1-10 (NLT)

Jonah Preaches in Nineveh Jakob Steinhardt, 1923 hand-colored woodcut/Image courtesy of the Israel Museum
Jonah Preaches in Nineveh
Jakob Steinhardt, 1923
hand-colored woodcut/Image
courtesy of the Israel Museum

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
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Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart for I am gracious and merciful. (Joel 2:12)
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A Reading from the Gospels: Luke 11:29-32 (NLT)

The Prophet Jonah Michelangelo (c. 1542–1545) Sistine Chapel, Vatican Palace, Vatican City
The Prophet Jonah
Michelangelo (c. 1542–1545)
Sistine Chapel, Vatican Palace, Vatican City

When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
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Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing:

May the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: Psalm 42:7; Jonah 1:17-2:2; Matthew 12:38-41 ~ resurrection

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 42:7 NLT:

I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.

Icon of Jonah and the Whale Juliet Venter Metal Prints
Icon of Jonah and the Whale
Juliet Venter Metal Prints
Jonah 1:17-2:2 NLT:

Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said,

“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!”

Matthew 12:38-41 NLT:

One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”

But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

“The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.”

Reflection/Prayer:

‘Jonah was in the belly of a fish.’

Many people will say: ‘That is impossible, that is a fable.’ But God, who can make fishes 100 feet long, says that it is possible. (Can you make a fish one inch long?) And God can do an even greater miracle: Christ says that as Jonah was three days and nights in the stomach of a fish, so He would be three days and nights in the heart of the earth, in the grave, and then rise from the dead. Jonah says inside the fish: ‘Salvation is of the Lord!’ Salvation in Hebrew, is Yeshua, or Jeshua; that is the Hebrew name for Jesus…

Professor Samuel Schultz argues that there is no room for the idea of a harsh vindictive God of justice in the Old Testament to be contrasted with a God of love and mercy in the New. Love and mercy are always offered before judgement is rendered. Yeshua’s warnings concerning judgement in the New Testament are as severe as anything in the Old, even if we argue that the highest personal revelation of God’s love is seen in Jeshua!

Incidently, the April 4th, 1896 Literary Digest gave a story of a Mediterranean whale that demolished a harpoon boat.

Two men were lost…. One was found alive in the whale belly a day and a half after it was killed. James Bartley lived with no after effects except his skin was tanned by the gastric juices.

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
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Peanut Gallery: The Morning Prayer readings are from the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community as available online here… and in the book form, Celtic Daily Prayer available on Amazon.com.

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.