DAILY HOMILIES #Nineveh

Noah preached repentance for one hundred years; only his immediate family agreed to enter the Ark, but Jonah preached for three days, and he succeeded in bringing a whole nation to its knees. What was special about Jonah’s preaching, and why was it extremely effective?

The crowd asked Jesus for a sign, but Jesus called them an evil generation. Why? It is evil to put God to the test. It is evil to ask God to prove Himself. If you trust God, you will not demand for signs. Jesus said: “For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation.” (Luke 11:29-30). The death and resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate miracle. If this sign does not convince you, nothing else can convince us.

Forgiveness is only sweet when you are the one in need of it. It never ceases to amaze me how I expect others to tolerate, understand, and forgive me when I sin, yet I am mad at people who tolerate, put up with, and forgive others. Why am I angry with someone for forgiving, yet if I were the one being forgiven, I would not be angry?

You might ask: “Why can’t I sit in my room and beg for God’s forgiveness?” If we want to deal with sin, we must be willing to talk about it to others. The people of Nineveh did not sit in their rooms to ask for God’s forgiveness. They publicly humiliated themselves and proclaimed a fast from the greatest to the least.

The more I repent and leave my sins behind, the brighter my future will be. Who knows what calamities I could have attracted to myself due to my sins?

It beats my mind that Jonah didn’t even ask them to repent. He didn’t say “change your evil ways. Be good children of God. Stop sinning, etc.” Jonah just went about the city announcing doom and destruction: “Only forty days from now and Nineveh would be destroyed…”

No matter what the past has been, now is the time to return back to God and this return must take place in your heart, not merely in your external appearance.

In our Gospel passage today, Mark tells us that Jesus began his public ministry by preaching saying: “This is the time of fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” In other words, “today is all we have, this is the time, repent now and believe the Gospel.” In our first reading, we see a very similar message being preached by Jonah to the people of Nineveh: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” In other words, there is no time, we cannot postpone repentance otherwise, we shall be destroyed. Even our Second reading today contains the same message: “The appointed time has grown very short…”