Wednesday 24 February 2010

Background

God has a clear message for all humankind. It was first statedin the Jewish Scriptures. The message highlights human wickednessand announces that ultimately there must be a day of reckoningbefore God; but God generously gives opportunities for repentance,and thereby for forgiveness.

(The day of reckoning is called 'the judgement' in Luke11:31-32. In the light of Daniel7:13-14, it was believed that on that day God would authorisesomeone called the 'Son of Man' to exercise final judgement on allnations and people.)

Jonah, though somewhat reluctantly, took God's message on his ownto the vast metropolis of ancient Nineveh (near Mosul in modernIraq, though then in Assyria - see Jonah1:1-2; 3:1-4). The city was converted. What a sign ofthe way God wants to work in every time and place!

The humble Jesus, following the tradition of Jonah, proclaims inhis day the same message - but only to his fellow-Jews. They surelyshould know their own scriptures and therefore recognise what Jesusis saying? But they do not repent.

In the final court of judgement Jesus' Jewish contemporaries willbe condemned unless there is a change of heart. The people ofNineveh - all of them non-Jews - will state the case for theprosecution. So will the queen of the South, ie the queen of Sheba,near modern Aden in Yemen (as 1Kings 10:1-10 records, she, another non-Jew, heard God'smessage by being attracted to the fabled wisdom of Solomon). Andthe great surprise that awaits Jesus' contemporaries is that Jesus,no less, is that Son of Man, who exercises God's judgement.

But could the Jews of Jesus' day not have worked out that there wassomething special about Jesus? What about the marvelloustransformations he introduced into the lives of the sick and needy?His words and deeds, his mission and ministry, together formed the"something greater than" Solomon or Jonah, to which verses 31 and32 refer. Non-Jews had earlier got the message. Why couldn't theJews get the message - especially from Jesus?

To Ponder

God's message seems to make its way much moreeffectively today in other parts of the world than in Europe. Howcan British society be helped by Christian experienceelsewhere?

If 'repentance' and 'forgiveness' for individualsmean following Jesus, what can you share with others which makesJesus a compelling and attractive figure in today's society?