Holy Week Reflection
Tuesday
“Now someone greater than Jonah is here.”
Have you ever intentionally run in the opposite direction of your full circle moment?
Probably not. We all want our lives to reach that full circle moment—a time when everything comes together, and we finally see the long-awaited situation turn in a positive direction.
Jonah was a prophet called to deliver the messages that God entrusted to him for those who needed to hear them. His full circle story overlays more with the overarching narrative of Jesus.
The part of Jonah’s story that connects with Jesus begins with his refusal to obey God. Jonah did not want to deliver God’s warning to the wicked city of Nineveh because he understood that God is gracious and slow to anger. He knew that if the people of Nineveh repented, God would show them mercy.
Jonah’s refusal led him to sail in the opposite direction of Nineveh, but God has a way of redirecting our steps when we go off course. He sent a storm that Jonah recognized as a divine intervention. Rather than allowing the ship to sink, Jonah decided to relent and told the sailors to throw him overboard.
The sea calmed, the ship was saved, and God sent a large fish to swallow Jonah.
Jonah was put in a divine time-out for three days and nights in the belly of a large fish before receiving a second chance to travel to Nineveh with God’s message. Jonah delivered that message, and the people of Nineveh believed in God and repented. This story illustrates God’s grace, particularly in His mercy to the Ninevites.
Full Circle | Jonah to Jesus
While Jonah unknowingly participated in a much larger plan of God, this plan came full circle when Jesus used Jonah’s story to foreshadow what was about to happen to Him.
Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
“The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now, someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent. (Matthew 12: 39-41, NLT)
Jonah’s disobedience, which led to three days and nights in the fish, came full circle with Jesus’s obedience, which brought Him to the cross and His three days and nights, not in a fish but in a grave.
Jonah was chosen to deliver God’s message of love to people who were evil and distant from Him, but he was not in favor of God’s grace extending to them. In contrast, we see Jesus demonstrating grace when He asked God to forgive the very person who was nailing Him to the cross.
Jonah ran away, but Jesus is THE WAY.
We may not know when God is weaving our story into His greater redemptive plan for humanity. May we be humble and obedient to follow wherever He leads.
Holy Week Reflection
Meditate: God is gracious to me.
Reflect: Ask God to reveal anything, like an attitude, something you are consuming, anything or anyone moving you away from Him.
Ask God what you need to do to turn around and move in the right direction.
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(Bible References: NLT – New Living Translation)
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