I chose to preach on the Hebrew Scriptures assigned for this week rather than on the Gospel. The Gospel from St. Mark tells of the call of Peter, James and John as Jesus’ disciples. But the other lesson, taken from the story of Jonah, tells of the reluctance that Jonah had in answering God’s call to go and preach repentance and reconciliation to his mortal enemies the Assyrians living in Nineveh.

In a moment like this, when we are all becoming increasingly concerned because of the widening division between people and communities all around the world, when there are significant challenges that need to be faced cooperatively, it seemed important to me to return to this ancient story of Jonah. And more specifically how Jonah struggled to imagine how God could care about people who were so extravagantly violent and cruel towards Jonah’s people.

It is only by trusting that God has some greater vantage point of human history that we can begin to hope that reconciliation between warring groups and historic enemies can ever be possible. Jonah’s story reminds us that such hope does not come easily, if it comes at all. But God will act without us if we refuse.

You can find a link to view the video directly here.

The image above is from a Relief of Ashurbanipal (an Assyrian King), depicting Elamite chiefs having their tongues removed and being flayed alive

By Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany – Exhibition: I am Ashurbanipal king of the world, king of Assyria, British Museum, CC BY-SA 2.0,