WEEKEND 02 - 03 SEPT
GOOD NEWS
READ Jonah 3:4 Nahum 3:1-19
I’m intrigued, and a little intimidated (it seems I spend a lot of time feeling intimidated!) by those street preachers who stand on street corners yelling Bible texts at passersby. Often they clutch huge placards that scream threatening messages about the wrath of God. There’s no doubting their bravery – but are they wise? Or have I just become a flabby liberal in my advancing years? Yet if the gospel is good news, surely few will be won by wide-eyed ranting. There’s something curious about Jonah’s short sermon to the people of Nineveh: there’s absolutely no good news, not even an invitation to repent. He bluntly announced, ‘In 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed.’ The Hebrew word Jonah used is hapak. It can be used to mean totally destroyed, as it was to describe the total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:25). Nor does the prophet refer to their wickedness, which could spur repentance. Jonah just echoes Nahum’s dark denunciation. It’s ‘Here comes the judge – you’re all doomed.’ Some commentators think that Jonah simply spoke only what he was told to say, or that what is recorded in the text is a summary of his message. But others wonder if Jonah just couldn’t bring himself to speak hope to those he hated. He knew that salvation came from the Lord, and had loudly proclaimed that to the innards of a fish. Perhaps he just couldn’t bring himself to say it to the nasty people of Nineveh. To ponder: Are our lives and words good news to others – or a dirge that turns them off? 63
