Wednesday in the first Week of Lent

Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32

“No sign will be given except the sign of Jonah.”  What sign was that?  The sign was Jonah walking through Nineveh and predicting destruction.  Jonah didn’t say, “Repent or else!”  He simply said, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.”  The people of Nineveh repented (well, the king repented, and ordered everyone else to repent - how does that work?), and God changed her mind.  So it seems to me that the “sign of Jonah” is just a simple warning: “Forty days more and the earth’s climate will be disturbed beyond its capacity to repair itself.”  “Forty days more and the increasing inequality in our country, in our world, will spiral into continuing violence and terror.”  “Forty days more and the economies of the world will collapse under the weight of inequality.”  

We can listen to the predictions, and we can repent and hope that the Holy Spirit can yet renew us.  Or we can kill the messengers.

This passage was written after Jerusalem had in fact been destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.  Luke wants us to hear the warning, and the consequences of our failure to repent.  Now, you may not believe that God made the Romans destroy Jerusalem; you may not see violence or climate change as God’s revenge, as some televangelists do.  But I hope you hear Jesus calling in the streets.  However we got here, we are the only ones who can take action now.  

What is the repentance to which you are called?  The people and animals of Nineveh dressed in sackcloth and ashes.  I don’t think that’s the answer, though simplicity can go a long way.  But there are plenty of other ways to turn and live.  Using less, sharing more, demanding decent working conditions and a living wage for all everywhere, voting for universal health care, working to build connections that reduce violence; that’s just a beginning of a list.  And they sound big, and abstract.  But they show up as small and concrete changes.  Calling people who are lonely.  Giving more to the food pantry.  Re-using the bags for fruits and vegetables.  Not ordering from the online dealers who exploit and abuse their workers (and doing the research on those I do business with).

And praying more, and better.  All the signs in the world won’t help if I won’t listen.  Please, God, help me hear your message and turn.  Help us all to turn and be saved.  Please.