Key Theme: Faith Expressing Itself in Love
[Core Gospel Concepts: Love, Sanctification, Nature of Faith, Forgiveness, Sin]
CONTEXT: Jonah and his people, the Israelites, hated the Ninevites because they had been their enemies and conquerors for a long time. In Jonah 1, God commanded Jonah to go preach to the wicked, idolatrous Ninevites. Jonah refused, got on a ship, and headed toward Tarshish. God sent a great storm to punish and stop him so that he was cast into the sea. But God mercifully sent a great fish to swallow him. In Jonah 2, the prophet prayers a prayer of deep repentance. He recognized (his sin), remembered (God and his mercy), repented (turned from his own path and toward God's saving help), rejoiced (as he experienced the wonder of God’s mercy), and renewed (his vow to follow the saving God)! And God commands the fish to vomit Jonah back to dry land. Then in Jonah 3, God commands Jonah again to preach judgment to Ninevah. All of the people repented, and God showed compassion on them and did not destroy them after all.
After the people of Nineveh repented of their sin, and God had compassion on them and did not destroy them, Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 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. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." But the Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
So Jonah went out and sat down at a place outside the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 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.
But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God sent a scorching 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." 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."
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. 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?"
Optional Memory Verse: 2 Peter 1:9: But if anyone does not have them (qualities such as love that make our faith effective) , he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an expensive jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner."
Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the greater debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little, loves little." Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."