Lenten Meditation: Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Luke 11:29-32
Today, Jesus compares himself to Jonah, a prophet who lived eight centuries before Jesus. Jonah warned the people of Nineveh, a city in what is modern day Iraq, to amend their evil lives or face disaster and doom. The Book of Jonah records that the people did repent and the city survived. Jesus says that he, like Jonah, calls upon the people of his time to forsake their evil ways.
What most people know about Jonah, however, is a far more colorful story. The Book of Jonah says that Jonah did not want to be a spokesperson for God — a thankless job — so he tried to flee. A large fish swallowed Jonah alive, however, and after three days spit him onto the shore right back where he started. One moral of this fanciful story is that you cannot escape from God.
The early Christians saw something else in the story, though. Just as Jonah was in the belly of death for three days and then was returned to life, so Jesus lay in death for three days but then was returned to life. The early Christians saw Jesus everywhere: in every story, in every person, in every facet of nature. They were so in love with him that there was not a single moment or a single thing that did not remind them of him.
Jesus is alive, freed from death, and we share his risen life. Today, look for Jesus alive. What memory, what relationship, what stranger in need, what thing of beauty, what world event reminds you that he is always right there?