From Vicar Stefanec  (July)

Dear Trinity, The final individual from the Old Testament I have chosen for this series is Jonah. Jonah is a bit of an ironic prophet. God called him to be a prophet to the gentile city of Nineveh, but Jonah did not desire to go. Instead, he fled. He boarded a ship in an attempt to flee his calling.

God sent a great storm to the ship, and the men aboard decided to throw Jonah over so that the storm ceases. Jonah is swallowed by a great fish and there prays, “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” (Jonah 2:2) God does hear Jonah’s prayer, and he is spat out by the fish on dry ground. He then goes and prophesies to Nineveh, and they repent.

Christ too, is a prophet to the nations. He is the prophet sent to preach the forgiveness of sins to all people, which he does through his word. Just as Jonah was swallowed by the great fish and spent three days in its belly, so also Christ was swallowed by the grave and walked out of it on the third day. Just as Jonah prophesied to gentile Nineveh and they converted, Christ sent his apostles out to convert the nations: “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). Although Jonah despised his calling and vocation as a prophet, the word of the Lord still worked through him. May we not despise our own vocations as parents, children, teachers, Christians, and neighbors. May we not disdain the word of Christ that he has entrusted us with, but use it to teach, correct, encourage, and convert one another and those in our lives. For with the word of Christ, we bring Christ himself.

For Prayer: Heavenly Father, you have sent your Son into the world not to condemn it but to save it. Please grant that we would be faithful stewards of this word in all we say and do, so that our brothers and our neighbors may trust in the promise of your salvation. In Jesus’ name, amen.