B, Epiphany 6 - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 "The Flying Ant"

Ants are fascinating little creatures. They can remind us a lot of ourselves; the things we do as individuals and as a community.

A little flying ant pushes its way through the steamy environment. She can't see where she's going or from where she's come. But she uses her senses to the best of her ability to work out where she is going. She cannot fly as the steam from the room weighs heavy on her wings. So she clings upside down to roof of the bathroom.

Where is this ant going? From where has it come? Watch the ant to see what will happen next, as it tries to figure out where it is, and how to get somewhere else.

But it goes nowhere. The steam from the shower melts its only means of knowing where to go. The steam however reveals from where it has come since the room has steamed up. The best the poor little flying critter can do is to walk upside down in circles on the ceiling in the dampness. See its lost circle in the moisture on the bathroom ceiling!

We humans have a tendency to do the same thing; we walk in confused lost circles; habitually, mentally, spiritually, and sometimes even physically. History has a tendency to repeat itself too; going in circles humanity finds themselves in the same situation, generation after generation. It's as if we're like the little ant unable to fly away or walk out of the circle of repetition in which we find ourselves.

Some might think humanity should be getting stronger and stronger as we grow and develop because of our problems. It's logical to think this way; but in reality it doesn't happen. History proves and reveals our repeated mistakes time and time again.

You'd think in generations and generations of ant culture, they would have superseded the problems that arise when their scent path is lost. After all flying ants have the freedom of wings. But in this case its freedom doesn't help it get out of its lost circle.

Similarly with us, we have freedom too. But to where does it get us? An example of our autonomy to demonstrate the problems of freedom, is, human transport.

When people first roamed the earth on foot, there was a desire to have more freedom. Instead of lumping one's load on one's back, wheels were stuck on carts to give people more freedom.

Then horses were put in front to make life easier again. After that horsepower was put into the front of the cart to go faster, to be freer. This horsepower was put on rails and into boats so massive loads of what we once had to carry on our back could be taken all over the world.

However, we looked at birds and desired their freedom and so we built flying machines to hold us, our loads, and to carry the horsepower to move the aircraft through the sky. But the freedom we sought throughout the ages came at a price.

When we walked we could nearly walk any direction we liked. But when we walked with wheels we had to find a path on which to walk, limiting our freedom. When horses came along we had to feed them so they could continue pulling the cart, we had to spend time breaking-in the animal, limiting its freedom, so it would submit to our freedom.

When we put the horsepower under the bonnet, we had to send others out to toil for iron ore, coal, and oil to build and fuel our freedom, so we can get stuck in gridlock on the freeways.

And in our freedom we fly, but only when the weather is favourable, bridled by air traffic control and other strict safety regulations.

So having been grounded and gridlocked in our freedom, we return to where we started, and walk. But not realising the freedom our feet give us, once again we wonder how we might have more freedom.

Aren't we doing what the flying ant did upside down on the ceiling of the bathroom? Walking in lost circles! It appears the more we seek freedom, the less freedom we actually have. Perhaps, the more something changes, the more it stays the same.

At a recent elders meeting, after I announce the acceptance of the call to Western Australia, one of the elders reflected, "It seems like we have to reinvent the wheel, every five years or so because our pastor always leaves."

Yes! You will have to go through the process once again of calling a minister, getting to know a minister, placing yourselves under his authority as a called and ordained servant of God and his Word. There will be repetition as this process once again begins.

However, know that as you wait for the next minister to come, you have been instructed in the things of God. You have been encouraged in his word to believe and receive the forgiveness of your sins. You have been encouraged to forgive each other as God has forgiven you. That together in Christ we have grown through our joys and sorrows together. Know that you have been encouraged to train yourselves in the straight paths of Christ.

As the wheel seems to be reinvented, as we circle on ground over which we've marched before, see that Christ is walking with you, calling you together as one people to follow him. So it is good for you and me to conform our ways to Christ! Saint Paul explains to his congregation at Corinth why...

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Cor 9:24-27)

When a person trains to win a prize they change little in their routine. They make themselves slaves to a cycle. Not in a cycle that is lost or without direction, but one that results in them winning a prize.

So too with you; remain in what you know, in what you have been taught. Let Christ continually reinvent you through his death and resurrection as you circle in repetition of life. In the mistakes you make, in the blessings you receive, allow Christ's correction and forgiveness to mature you in him. As the next pastor comes place yourselves under him, encourage him to preach the law and the gospel, to expose your sin and to grant the grace of God, that forgives your folly and feeds the faith given to you at baptism.

Don't look for change, but look for consistency. Train yourselves to win the prize. Christ is the same; yesterday, today, and forever. The greatest change is happening in you when you remain in he who is the same. Disciple yourselves in the discipline of hearing God's word preached and receiving the mysteries of Jesus in the way he ordained. Believe it is the only way to win the prize - the salvation of your souls.

History repeats itself in all of you because of your sin. Generation after generation circles in the steaminess of its sinful nature. Like the flying ant that dropped from the ceiling and died, we too will circle in life to death. But unlike the flying ant, we have One who circles with us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

As your weariness wears you down, let Christ carry you. He is carrying you towards a crown that will last forever. So use your freedom in the faith with purpose, to fight the good fight of faith, to remain in Christ, his Word, his way - to forgive, to be forgiven, and to be feed on the food of faith, forever, Amen.

B, Epiphany 5 - Psalms 147:1, 11, 20c "God Pleasing Praise"

Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. Praise the Lord. (Ps 147:1, 11, 20c)

When we praise God we do it in either of two ways. We praise him in prayer - thanksgiving prayer. Or we praise him in song or hymnody. But why do we praise God? What is the purpose of praise? What does singing songs or hymns of praise do? Do we need to praise God? And how do we praise God in prayer and song - is there a way of wisdom, a proper process for praising our Lord?

In the Psalms God gives us his words of praise and lament. So if God gives us praises and laments in his Word, then it is right to give him thanks and praise, and also to lament and express our grief before him too. But why; what purpose does it serve?

In many of the praise Psalms the opening line reads "Praise the Lord", or "Hallelujah". These openings are the same thing, one is in English and the other is the original Hebrew. It's interesting to note that Hallelujah is a contraction of two words, Hallelu and Yah, short for Yahweh. Hallelu means to shine or radiate, and even to boast or brag. And so to Praise the Lord, hallelujah, we are called to shine or radiate God, to boast or brag of the Lord. But the question still remains, "Why; what purpose does it serve?"

One must also be specifically clear when discussing praise; that we are not just speaking about singing praises. Praises are sung in song and hymnody, but, in the context of praise's meaning "to shine", praises can happen just as easily through being spoken. In fact the praise of God goes right back through the history of humanity's response to God, but singing of praises became a regular response only in the days of King David.

Psalm 147 falls in amongst the last of the Psalms, of which are all praise Psalms. The book of Psalms finishes with a crescendo of praise for God. In Psalm 144 we hear God is praised for being King David's rock in battle. In Psalm 145 David goes on to lift up the name of the Lord in praise. Then in Psalm 146 the repetition of praise hallelujahs becomes common right to the end in Psalm 150.

In verse one of Psalm 147 the psalmist begins, Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! Why is it good, and pleasant, and fitting to praise God? It all depends on the source and content of the praise!

One of the most astounding things to occur in the bible is that in God's calling us to response to his Word, he also gives us his Word as response. The Psalms are a book of responses written by men, inspired by God himself, for us to respond to him. And even more amazing than the Psalms of praise are the Psalms of lament. God gives humanity a vent to spew out our anger, grief, and even out hatred towards those who refuse to submit to the authority of his Word.

First, it's fitting, pleasant, and good to praise God, because he gives us praises in his Word to do just that - praise him. We obey him and honour him, and his Word, when we praise him with his Word.

But then notice in many of the Psalms the community context of praise. When King David introduced the use of Psalms in the temple worship, the Psalms functioned as responses to the reading of the Law. So it was David's job as king to lead the congregation in response to the priest's reading of the Torah - the Law. This is why the 150 Psalms are broken into five books (Ps 1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-150) so they parallel the five books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy).

God calls us to praise him in this community context for a very important reason. When we praise God we declare who God is and what he has done for us. The praising of God with his word not only radiates and shines glory back to God, but in the community we radiate his glory upon each other. And so the second reason we sing praises in worship response is to teach each other about God's work and mercy, and to admonish, or warn, each other with the Word of God.

This is best explained by Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians where he says...

[E]verything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph 5:13-21)

So when we sing praises we submit to each other out of respect for Christ. We allow ourselves to be vessels through whom God works to wake each other up. Christ shines on those to whom we sing praises.

Also Paul tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit rather than to get drunk on wine or other types of spirits. Singing praises from God's Word, especially in declaration of the gospel, promises sober, orderly, and wise worship and it makes the most of every opportunity for us to holding each other up before Christ.

Praising God does not make us delirious to the realities around us. It doesn't encourage us to become debauched in the things of the world. And nor is its function to build up God for God's own sake. God's divinity does not depend on how much we build him up. However, people's salvation is dependant on them hearing God's Word in all its truth and purity.

Therefore, all of us must be careful not to stray from the truth of God's Word to sing praises that only serve to make us feel good. Who then is the praise for? When praises are reduced to a feel good mantra God is not glorified or taught, but rather the praise singer is glorified as they teach others about what they swear they will do for God.

After all, the psalmist declares...

[God's] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. (Ps 147:10-11)

Paul also says to the Colossians...

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col 3:9-10)

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Col 3:13)

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:15-17)

In the church today, the saddest sight amongst the priesthood of believers is when people sing songs deemed as praise songs where they promise to God what they are going to do and then fail to do it once they return to the normality of life. Whipped into a frenzy they hide their sin and swear oaths before God, but on Monday having realised they cannot keep their oaths they're crushed by their unfaithfulness and unforgiven sin.

However, praising God is meant to shine God's light of mercy and forgiveness, to dismiss the darkness, rather than creating by-polar Christians, who are high one day and depressed the next.

Rather the praises Paul and all others in Scripture encourage us to sing builds up Jesus Christ in others, exposing the necessity of grace over sin, increasing faith, and giving a real sense of God's peace.

True Christ-centred praise unifies all of us as one in Christ enabling us to do God's will on earth and forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven us.

Praising God then is not only something we sing, say, or pray on Sunday, but it becomes deed as we reflect and shine the mercy of Almighty God on those we meet in the street. Amen.

B, Epiphany 4 - Mark 1:21-28 "Teaching & Authority"

When Jesus entered the synagogue at Capernaum and taught with authority the people were amazed by what he taught and how he taught it. Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's son, taught with greater power than the scribes of the Law; no wonder they who gathered for the Sabbath service were amazed at what they heard.

Nevertheless, the power and authority of Jesus' word came not because he was a gifted man, but because he was, and still is, the Christ, God the Son, the Word of God veiled in flesh - in the man from Nazareth. Jesus came as the Saviour of humankind; he came as Christ - anointed by the Father as the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

On the other hand, there was one confronted by his authority and teaching that Sabbath Saturday. A man possessed by an evil spirit cried out in opposition to the very presence of Jesus. It's interesting the possessed man seemed content to be in the synagogue hearing the Law in the first place. Yet he wanted nothing to do with Jesus, nor did he want to submit to his authority, or be discipled by his teaching. The spirit within the man wanted neither the person he possessed to be saved, nor to have his sins taken away.

What happened on that Sabbath at Capernaum might seem rather extraordinary. Yet, similar things occur when people come into God's rest every Sunday.

This might come as a surprise to most of us. Evil spirits are not regularly seen these days, but they do exist. We must not be too quick to dismiss the spirit world because we cannot see it. Both good and bad spirits do exist. We place our trust in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus himself gives us the petition in his Lord's Prayer, "deliver us from evil, or the evil one." Therefore, there is an entourage of evil hidden from our regular sight.

We also can't be too quick to see this evil in others, thinking we are void of these evil powers. Again we are returned to the Lord's Prayer and must ask ourselves why Jesus gives us the petition, "deliver us from evil".

When we come into God's presence on Sunday we come into a holy place where things happen like no other place on earth. Firstly, sin is named. Not just named as a general concept, but sin is specifically named in us - personally named. Then we're called to repentance for our sin so we might remain in submission under God's authority, and be disciplined as disciples through teaching and preaching from his authoritative word.

Teaching and authority, being disciplined and living in submission, are seen as negative things these days. The trend is to only hear and learn what we want, and submit to no one except ourselves, or at the most, to those who say what we want to hear. So when someone comes along and speaks the truth, personally naming sin in us and the need for a Saviour, it's bound to stir us as Jesus did to the man possessed by the evil spirit.

One of the saddest things to occur in the church today is when those called to proclaim the truth of God's word, to teach and preach with authority, bow to pressure from society's rationale that truth is subjective. In other words, that truth is what one wants to believe is true. So in a bid to be accepted, teaching about sin and grace become clouded, as called ministers avoid the issue of repentance, and misuse the authority they've been given to preach and teach the condemnation of the Law and the salvation we all need from the Gospel.

When authority and teaching are misused in this way, one of two things usually happen - either the pastor submits to the authority of the people, or the pastor imposes his own authority over the congregation. Either way God's authority is thwarted by authoritarianism driven by humanity. And guess who has been behind this type of misguided authority since day one, encouraging individuals to impose their own wills and their own rights? The devil - the epitome of evil - and his whole entourage of spirits!

But when the Law and Gospel are proclaimed and taught with the authority that gives glory and honour to God alone and intimately names who we are before God, expect to be amazed at God's almighty saving power and to be unsettled as God confronts the evil in you.

Jesus of Nazareth, revealed as the Son of God, comes to us in authority to fight and forgive the Old Adam deceived in all of us. The devil, his evil entourage, and our sinful selves are content up until this point. But when their cover is blown and they're exposed, a spiritual battle rages within as the Old Adam is defeated.

Having been forgiven, and we're returned to the promise of God made in baptism, he feeds us with his Word, and the Holy Spirit continues his good work, engendering faith. So with faith we are opened to being taught, being discipled, even being disciplined, so the devil is defeated by our forgiving of each other, so we are led away from the temptation to disbelieve God's baptismal promises, and to be continually delivered from all evil so that when Christ comes again we might be taken with him into eternity forever.

With the baptismal promise, God the Father and the Holy Spirit reside in you, through God the Son. Jesus lives in you by God's grace, through faith, so that no one can boast. Jesus' submission to the Father enabled him to humbly submit to the cross and bear our sin in death. And because Jesus did this the Father raised him to all glory and now he lives in us, walking with us, saving us from ourselves, and the evil that always appears so enticing to our human nature.

But as Jesus lives in us, he calls us to live in him. He calls you to submit to his authority, just as he submitted to the authority of our Father in heaven. When we allow ourselves to submit to his authority, the Holy Spirit works to kill the sin in us by moving us back under Christ where death and the devil, where sin and satan's evil entourage, have no authority in our lives anymore.

As Jesus does this, expect to be amazed at what the Almighty can do! But also expect there to be longing of need, and at times grief, as the holiness of God conquers evil, to bring you peace and eternal relief.

Let this good news shed light in every hidden part of your body and soul. Let God be God in you; let his kingdom come to you with all authority and power, to forgive and fight the sin within. Amen.

B, Epiphany 3 - Jonah 3:10_4:11 "Jonah, Jesus, & Me"

Text Jonah 3:10-4:11 10 When God saw what the Ninevites did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. 1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, "O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4 But the Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?" 5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah"s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live." 9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die." 10 But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

Sermon

Jonah sits on a hill in Assyria looking down on its capital, Nineveh. Sitting there like an angry child, out of sorts with his parents, he huffs and puffs to himself over the events which have unfolded before him. Jonah has had his wings severely clipped since he took flight from his home in Israel. Jonah's actions after God had called him to go to Nineveh to preach repentance, proved him to be as flighty as a dove, which is exactly what the name Jonah means in Hebrew. Jonah the dove was startled by God and took flight in the opposite direction from Nineveh.

Anyway, why would God wanted such a ruthless mob of thugs to repent? Surly it would have been better if God had come down and slaughtered the Ninevites. The Assyrian army was know for it cruel barbarianism. Many Israelites had been slaughtered at the hands of the men of Nineveh; some were left to slowly die, impaled on sticks outside of the city, being heckled by the locals as they passed by. Nineveh was a place of sorcery and prostitution, full of deported and displaced people. The city was furnished by their reckless abandonment, death, and the booty they carted from the cities they left burning in their wake.

So when God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, no wonder he fled like a bird escaping from its cage. Why should he call them to repentance, when other prophets spoke harsh words to them, pronouncing upon them a seemingly more appropriate judgement? Such as that of Isaiah when God spoke through him saying, "'Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!' When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, 'I will punish the king of Assyria for the wilful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.'" (Isaiah 10:5,12) Or, as is pointed out through the prophet Nahum, "From you, O Nineveh, has one come forth who plots evil against the Lord and counsels wickedness." (Nahum 1:11) "Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses -- all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft. "I am against you," declares the Lord Almighty." (Nahum 3:1, 3b-5a) So if God was against them why didn't he just kill them? Why did he want Jonah to preach repentance to them?

The irony in the account of Jonah is that in Jonah's decision to flea from God, and his responsibilities as God's prophet before the Ninevites, Jonah actually became just as disobedient before God as were the people of Assyria and its capital, Nineveh.

We all know the events that preceded Jonah going to Nineveh. God called Jonah, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." (Jonah 1:2) But Jonah ran from the Lord, he wanted nothing to do with what his word called him to do. Maybe if Jonah ran away from God his conscience wouldn't be troubled and the Ninevites wouldn't hear God's word and get what was coming to them. So Jonah when down--down to Joppa, down to the boat, down into the hull; and when God shook the boat in the storm Jonah asked the others on the boat to throw him into the sea, down into a hellish place where surely God would not be. But God was there and he caught him with a large fish. God's compassion for Jonah was so great, that even while Jonah was in flight from God's presence, God still sought out Jonah and saved him after spending three days in the belly of the fish.

Now having been saved and having preached repentance to the Ninevites, Jonah sits on the hill outside the city. He is angry that God would lead the people of Nineveh to repentance, beginning with the king who hears God's call through Jonah and calls the whole city to repent, some one hundred and twenty thousand people. But God had done the same thing with Jonah. By pursuing him with the same goodness and mercy right down into the depths of the sea, and calling him to repentance.

The story of Jonah is our story. We like Jonah often work with the assumption that God surely wouldn't want salvation to go to all those sinners, but the fact is salvation has come to us, we who are sinners too. Even when we turn away from the will of God he patiently pursues us with grace, he is slow to anger and abounding with steadfast love found in his Son Jesus Christ. So if the story of Jonah is ours, who are we in the story and how does God come to us?

If we let ourselves be placed in the story as Jonah, we see that we often let ourselves be subject to God's graciousness and compassion, and are often saved by his patience with us and gracious means given to us as we struggle in this life. Even when all has gone wrong in this life and we sink into a seemingly unsolvable situation -- God saves us. We willingly receive the help of God sent to us through his Son Jesus Christ.

However we, like Jonah, become fixated on the trivial things God places in our lives, just like Jonah sitting on the hill under the shade of the plant, thought that it was his good fortune to have that plant grow over him. We like Jonah become disgruntled when that plant is taken away but at the same time are irritated when salvation shades those whom we think don't deserve it. As if the shade of God's grace should fall on us and no one else, unless we give God the approval to do so.

So if Jonah requires the same salvation as the Ninevites, then surely we too can be placed in the story as the Ninevites as well as Jonah. We are the ones caught up in the lustful harlotry of life as were the Assyrians. We may not kill, and plunder, as the Ninevites did. But we hate, covert, lust, and assassinate the character of those around us. And every one of us plots evil in opposition to God and his compassion, grace, and love, every time we worry or doubt. And surely if God would come to Nineveh calling them to repentance through the words of Jonah, we too are called to repentance by the gracious actions of God who sent his only Son to die on the cross for us.

However, if justice is to be done to the Word of God written in Jonah, if justice is to be done for the sake of Christ and his gospel action of going to the cross, and if justice and righteousness is to come to us, we must see how God fits into the Jonah story, we must see how God fits into our story.

We have seen ourselves and humanity in the shoes of Jonah and the Ninevites, but until we see Jesus as Jonah we miss what God intends for us. We fail as Jonah, in fact Jonah fails too. Jesus was called to go to the lost Jonahs and Ninivites of this world and he was the only one who obediently did so. He was the only one who went the right direction, which led to the cross. You see God too was angry as Jonah was angry, he was so angry with sin--our sin, the sin of the Ninevites, and Jonah'that he would die. And he did die to overcome the sin of all the wayward Jonahs, Assyrians, and Ninevites of this world on the cross. God's compassion and graciousness meant that he was quick to anger over our sinful nature but slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love for us who suffer from the effects of this same sin in our lives.

Although Jesus, unlike Jonah, followed God's will completely, Jesus still ended up in the tomb for three days after being crucified on a cross for all to see and mock. He like Jonah went down, down into hell, before being raised by God, just as God had the fish spit Jonah onto dry land. He was not flighty like Jonah, but on him rested the dove of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that rests on us and constantly leads us to Jesus.

God brought Jonah to repentance and saved him. God worked through Jonah to bring repentance to the Ninevites. God has worked through Christ's death and resurrection to save us. And now like the fish, we too have Jesus Christ, the perfect Jonah, in us. Are we going to keep him hidden inside or are we going to be the agents through whom God's compassion and steadfast love are made know to all, who like us need forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life? Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.