The Book of Jonah in the thought of the Church Fathers

The first patristic sermon on repentance… the way of repentance – by St. Ambrose[2]

Make me repent, so I repent

Let us wash ourselves with tears so that God hears us when we mourn. He also heard Ephraim when he wept, as it is written: “I have surely heard Ephraim moaning” (Jeremiah 31:18), and he deliberately repeated what Ephraim uttered in his mourning:” ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined” (Jeremiah 31:18), as the calf cannot tame itself, but flees from its tamer… This is how Ephraim left the tamer, following Jeroboam worshiping the calf…

That’s how Ephraim repents saying: “Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.” (Jeremiah 31:19), So let us submit ourselves to God and not to sin. As we meditate on remembering our sins, we are ashamed of them, as something to be ashamed of and not as a matter of pride… Let our conversation become like this, that we who did not know God have come to bear witness to Him before others. Until the Lord is moved by these conversations of ours and answers us, saying: “Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:20), and What kind of mercy did God promise us? He says: “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me” (Jeremiah 31:25,26), we therefore notice God’s promises to sinners as we return back to him.

Remember my sins without despair

We have a good Lord who wants the salvation of all. He called you on the mouth of the Prophet, saying: Am I the witness? Even I am the one who removed your sins, and I do not remember them again, so do you remember them?!. I do not remember it again because of my blessing, but do you remember it so as to turn away from it?

If you remember them, then they will be forgiven, but if you are proud of them as if you are a righteous without sin, you will increase them… Confess them and you will be justified, because confessing your sins in shame loosens their ties. A time for mourning, a time for merriment, Have you seen what God is asking of you, to remember His grace upon you and not be proud of yourself as a self-righteous will be?

You see how He drew you to confession of sin by His promise of full forgiveness. So be careful not to resist his commandments, that way you fall as the disobedient Jews fell, to whom he said: ”We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’ (Luke 7:32). This saying carries ordinary words, but it contains a strange mystery. Therefore, let us be careful not to take the colloquial interpretation. Some may think that by dance he means those dances of frivolous people or those of the theatres, because such dances are filled with the evils of youth, but the dancing here is like David’s dances in front of the Ark of the Covenant. Everything is created for the sake of worship. Here, the Lord does not speak of the dance that accompanies pleasures, but rather the spiritual dance, in which man exalts himself from the lustful body, and does not allow his members to enjoy earthly pleasures. (Philippians 2:13-14)

This is the secret, then, that we “sang to you” with the song of the New Testament, but you did not dance… that is, you did not go after your souls by means of divine grace.

“We wept for you, and you did not weep,” that is, you did not regret it… when John came to you calling for repentance by the grace of the Lord Christ.

The Lord is the giver of grace, even though John was the one declaring it as His servant. As for the Church, it keeps both, so that the grace may be realized without expelling repentance. Grace is the gift of the Lord, who alone grants it, and repentance (also His gift) is the remedy for the sinner.

Repentance as a remedy for sinners

Jeremiah realized that repentance is a great remedy, so he used it for the sake of Jerusalem in his lamentations, and he introduced Jerusalem as a repenter when he said: “She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks…  The ways of Zion do mourn” (Lamentations 1:2,4). Jeremiah thought of adding this bitter phrase, because he found that the one who comforts the afflicted is far from him, so how can you find comfort by refusing to repent yet still hoping for forgiveness?

But I wish those who repent would know how to offer repentance, with what feelings, and how it should involve all their thinking, shake their inner bowels, and penetrate the depths of their hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah says: “Behold, O Lord; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me” (Lamentations 1:20). He adds: “The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.” (Lamentations 2:10,11).

Likewise, the people of Nineveh grieved, so they escaped the destruction of their city (Jonah 3:5). How powerful is this medicine of repentance, so that it seems to change God’s intention!

So escaping from sin is in your hands, and the Lord wants to be kind to you, He wants people to plead with Him, and He wants us to ask Him for help. If you are a human being and you want others to ask you for forgiveness, do you think that God is below asking Him for forgiveness?!!.

The Lord Himself wept over Jerusalem, as it did not want to weep over itself… He wants us to weep in order to flee from sin, as it came in the Bible: “But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.” (Luke 23:28)

David wept, and he obtained the divine mercy to remove the penalty of death from the people who were about to perish. When he was offered to choose one of three choices (as disciplinary measures), he chose the one in which he would have a great experience in the hands of the divine mercies.

So why do you stop weeping over your sins, if God commanded even the prophets to weep for the sake of the people?!…

Finally, Ezekiel commanded us to weep over Jerusalem, and he took the book of which its beginning was lamentation, wailing and woe (Ezekiel 2:10).

He who weeps a lot in the world will be saved in the future, because “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” (Ecclesiastes 7:4).

The Lord also said: “Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.” (Luke 6:21) So let us then weep for a time to rejoice forever, let us fear the Lord and wait for Him, confessing our sins, turning back from our evil, so that we are not told:

“Woe is me!… The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men” (Micah 7:1,2)

A sermon by Saint John Chrysostom about Nineveh and Jonah

In describing God’s love that transcends all love, it is not enough for mankind to know how God cares for them only, rather it is very important to mankind that they know that God loves them intensely. Not only does He provide for us in a simple way, but He also loves us and His love for us is very intense, beyond description, and devoid of all weakness and imperfection, on the contrary, it always gets more ardent and more intense. It is not possible for it to be extinguished at any time, and in order to show us His mighty power, He gave us examples from ordinary people, not to show that His love for us is like our love for each other. It is impossible to comprehend His love as it is but we can begin to understand it if He represented it to us with examples known to us like Isaiah the prophet when he said: “But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.” The answer came saying: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, [a]And not have compassion on the son of her womb?” which means just as that woman does not forget her children, so God does not forget mankind. By mentioning this example, God does not want to show that the love of God is equal to the love of a mother for her children, but rather it outweighs it immeasurably, that is why He then adds “Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:14-15)

As His love exceeds the magnitude of a mother’s love, likewise, His longing exceeds a father’s longing for his children, as the prophet said “As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him.” (Psalms 103:13) And he, too, cites this image of love, since he possessed love as his own, he is the master of all creations, and he made it clear that God’s concern exceeds this image by the abundance of its presence in it, by the measure between light, adding it to darkness, and by the measure between malice, adding it to goodness, by the measure of that difference between God’s goodness and providence added to the sincerity of the love of the father, here’s what he said: “ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13) So, as much as the difference between malice and righteousness is so great, so is the goodness of God, which is much higher than the compassion and concern of the worldly fathers.

I mentioned these examples to be able to admire the greatness of His love, He wants to declare to us His great love, so He gives us many examples to show it. Every example indicates a higher meaning than the other, He said in the words of David “For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalms 103:11-12) and Isaiah says “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) These sayings He said with a higher meaning in describing the forgiveness of our sins, and His saying that I turn a blind eye to your deviation from my law is rewarding, then He explained that his forgiveness is great. And He was not content with these representations alone, but He also stated His words in another representation with a deeper purpose, because He spoke in the tongue of the prophet Hosea “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away.” (Hosea 6:4)

What He says shows that He is loving and never ceases to be kind to His loved ones. He did not stop at these examples, but He also entrusted us with a further goal, as He cited another greater example saying, “Just as the circumcised person rejoices in his bride, so the Lord rejoices in you at all times.” His love for us is unlike other people’s love which is usually very warm and ardent at the beginning but the flame of their love is extinguished at a later stage. And I do not stop presenting these human examples that are understandable to us, so that you may know from these examples the abundance of His ardent love, He loves us with intense sincerity, burning with His fire, because when He likened His love to the love of the fathers, He made it clear that He loves us more than our father could ever love us, and when He likened His love to that of the mother, He made it clear that He longs for us more than our mother could ever possibly and humanely long for us. And by comparing it to a bride, He makes it clear that He rejoices in us much more than a groom with his bride, because His love transcends these feelings, by much more than the distance between the sky is and the earth.

He was not content with that, but He went on further to an example that is much more indicative: when Jonah, the prophet, was bewildered after his escape, and after God’s reconciliation with the people of Nineveh, and his amazement at God’s warnings which did not translate into action, God instructed the rays of the sun to emit its flames with the most heat, then He commanded the earth to invent a roof for him of herbs, He glorified him and comforted him with a lot of kindness, then He also distressed him by the absence of having a roof over his head, and when He saw him in that state, that is when He told him: ” But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:10-11) For what He means is: As much as you were comforted by the shade of the gourd, so was I pleased with saving the people of Nineveh, and as for your grief over the extraction and destruction, so was I distressed by their destruction. For what He said was you pitied the fig tree that you did not labor over it, nor did you raise it, because it is customary for farmers to love, especially from their seedlings, for which they have labored greatly. Then, by definition, I should have more right and priority to love and pity my creatures for whom I have laboured . Then He goes on to explain the reason for the mistake of the people of Nineveh by saying: “Those who do not know their right hand from their left.” That is, they committed their sins as a result of their stupidity more than they had done so with malice, and this was fully elucidated by their repentance. And He rebuked other people who were asleep as if they were careless, and He said these words: Why do you ask me about my children and command me to have pity on the works of my hands? How do you think I need someone to beg me so that I can help my children? These sayings He said, not so that they would not ask Him, but He said them so that they would know that God provides for them before they ask Him, but He still wants them to ask Him because the benefit for those who ask is much greater.

Have you seen, by now, how He loves and provides for us? These examples are clear. God’s actual goodness exceeds, by far, all these examples, it is immeaurable.

Glory be to our Lord.

Jonah’s fast – a sermon to HH Pope Tawadrous II

The Church lives the events of the Book of Jonah with a fasting of three days with prayer and melodies. Because of its importance, it considers it a temporal introduction to the journey of Great Lent, which starts two weeks after Jonah’s fast until the glorious resurrection.

Jonah the Prophet: He lived nearly 100 years in the eighth century BC, including 73 years of service.

Book of Jonah: It differs from the other Books of the prophets, as it talks about the Prophet himself and not about a prophecy.

Sections of the Book: (chapters 1,2 – Jonah flees from his service) (chapters 3,4 – Jonah completes his service).

Book summary: chapters 1,2

There are three stories in this fast:

The first: God and man – man in God’s concern, man’s stubbornness, his erroneous thinking, and his loss.

The second: God and the members of the ship – they were worshipers of idols, and their ignorance of the true God.

The third: God and the people of Nineveh – they were in the dark and lived in error and sin.

At the same time, we see three great divine attributes:

He is the god of mercy and forgiveness: he has mercy on people – he has mercy on individuals – he has mercy on a person (Jonah).
He is the god of the second chance: to Jonah – to the sailors of the ship – to the people of Nineveh.
He is the god of goodness and victory: Jonah became the owner of the most successful preaching mission and saved Nineveh.

Four lessons:

Lessons from the sailors: the spirit of preparation and justice → the lesson of fear they are better than him (1:10).

Lessons from the fish: Quiet Prayer Dialogue → lesson of Obedience- they are more obedient than him (2:10).

lessons from the people of Nineveh: decisive repentance → the lesson of repentance – they are more understanding than him (3:10).

lessons from nature (the gourd): → Man’s grumbling against God’s mercy that flows upon all human beings.

St. John Chrysostom says: “How beautiful is the icon of Christ drawn in the tear of a repentant person!”

And also: “We must first do what we can, so God will do in us what we cannot”.

Jonah’s prayer:

Book of Jonah, chapter 2: It is the piece of prophecies that is read on the second day of the Nineveh fast.

The whole book compares God’s longing for man, against man’s stubbornness before God.

General features in this prayer:

It is devoid of any direct requests: “Out of the depths I cry out to you, Lord…” (Psalm 1:130).
It begins with sorrow and distress and ends with glory, thanksgiving, praise and vows.
He flees in abundance from the face of the Lord, and in distress the Lord finds his refuge

Three features in this prayer shape the feelings of a repentant person:

Feelings of shame: his intense shame of his sins, his disobedience, and his fleeing from God, and consequently his deserving of expulsion and punishment from God, as David said: “My sin is always before me.” (Psalm 51:3-4)

Feelings of trust: the intensity of his trust and hope in God’s love. He is confident that God will save him. He forgives, forgets, and starts over with us.

Feelings of trial: He teaches us and he himself learned two things from this tribulation:

o Those who observe falsehoods leave their grace, as his escape was a false deception, like other falsehoods (self – dignity – money – sin – etc).

o “With the voice of praise, I sacrifice for you and fulfill what I vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord.” I proclaim the salvation of the Lord. (Eight centuries before the advent of Christ) like our Virgin Mother (my soul rejoices in God my Savior).

How is the human being described?

There are 4 phrases in the Book of Jonah that explain who man is and what are his various feelings?

1- He slept heavily (1:5) → (recklessness, laziness, and flight).

2- The men had a great fear (1:10) ← (Fear and Feeling of the Divine Presence).

3- Jonah was deeply distressed by this (4:1) → (selfishness and lack of love for others).

4- Jonah was overjoyed (4:6) → (naivety and narrow view).

As for the whale, the hero of the story, it was a blessing from God:

A school of prayer in times of trouble. à it drove the fugitive prophet into a heartfelt prayer fellowship.
An example and a model of obedience and work. àIt served as a teaching tool for his obedience to the Prophet.
Free means of transportation for the Prophet. à God does not leave his servant even if he is a stubborn fugitive.

Mar Ephrem the Syrian says: Blessed is he who is always filled with spiritual joy, and who is not lazy in carrying the good yoke of the Lord, because he will be crowned with glory.

The Five Elements of the Book of Jonah the Prophet:

A complaining prophet: he rejects an invitation, he flees, he sleeps, he complains, he is narrow-minded… Beware of escaping from the commandment.
Reasonable sailors: they think, they pray, they cast the baggage, they cast lots, they strive, they fear, they offer a sacrifice, they make a vow,… they have open and aware hearts.
Obedient whale: energetic, it swallows, it comes at the appropriate time, it fasts 3 days, it carries out the divine command, it is submissive…
An accepted people: they hear, they are affected, they fast, they wear sackcloth, they pray, they repent of their evil, …
A loving God: gracious, merciful, slow to anger, long-suffering….

The prophet Jonah represents spiritual dullness, and it manifests itself as follows:

Not obeying God (disobedience).
Not having pity on sinners… a limited heart.
Not realizing the simplest truths of faith, as God is present everywhere.
Not being humble – he preferred his dignity to the survival of the people – and wished his death as it was better than his life. He has arrogance and pride.
Intolerance (he became angry) and said that “my death is better than my life”.

The miracle of Jonas the prophet – by the late Anba Epiphanious

The books of the Old Testament are full of prophecies about the Lord Jesus from His birth, until His ascension to heaven, and then His second coming to judge the living and the dead. The words of any of the prophets of the Children of Israel are not devoid of prophecies that shed light on any stage in the life of the Lord Jesus. Even Balaam, the Gentile prophet who was a stranger to the people of Israel, predicted the coming of the Lord Jesus in the flesh, so he said: “I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not close. A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel….” (Numbers 24:17). Thus, all prophets participate in prophesying about the person of the Lord Jesus.

As for Jonas the prophet , he was distinguished from many prophets. He did not only predict the coming of the Lord, but he himself became a symbol indicating the death and resurrection of the Lord.

This is what the Lord Jesus made clear when a group of Scribes and Pharisees asked to show them a sign from heaven, and He replied to them, saying: “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights…. For as Jonas was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man also be to this generation” (Matt. 12: 39, 40)(Luke 11:30).

Historical overview:

Jonas son of Amittai, whose name means dove, was born in the village of Gittahhefer, which lies on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali (Joshua 19:13), and it is about five kilometers northeast of the city of Nazareth. Its location is now “Khirbet Al-Zawra” near the village of “Mashhad”, where there is now the “tomb of the Prophet Younis”, in which it is believed that the Prophet is buried, and St. Jerome (from the fourth century) mentions that he visited this tomb.

There is no mention in the book of the Old Testament about this prophet outside the Book of Jonas except in the Book of the Second Kings (2 Kings 14:25), where it is mentioned that he prophesied in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash, King of Israel (793-735 BC).

The prophet Jonas prophesied during one of the most difficult periods that his nation went through. For all the modern kings who ruled Israel were very wicked in the eyes of the Lord, and the punishment of the Lord was imminent to befall them. God used the prophet Jonas to warn the people so that they might repent, so God would return and have mercy on them and save them from their enemies. And it seems that God’s intervention and His mercy on this people was the result of Jonas’ preaching among them: “For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.” (2 Kings 14:26, 27).

The reason for deliverance from the enemies, which was accomplished by the king, is not due to the repentance of the people and the king, as much as it is due to the mercy of God upon his people.

Because despite Jonas’ call to them to repent, the king did not turn back from his evil ways and did not offer repentance to the Lord: “In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. 24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord….. He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonas, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.” (2 Kings 14: 23-25).

As for the kings of the state of Assyria, contemporaries of this king, and one of whom repented as a result of the calling of Jonas, they are Adad-Nirari III (810-782 BC), Shalmanasar IV (782-772 BC), and Assyria Dan III (772-754 BC), and Assur-Nirari the Fifth (754-746 BC).

There are some historical evidences that prove that in the days of King Adad-Nirari III, a religious revolution took place, followed by a kind of belief in one God, or at least in a greater God. Some historians link this revolution with the call of the prophet Jonas to the people of Nineveh.

It seems that the people of Nineveh were very evil in the eyes of the Lord, as more than one prophet predicted their destruction.

The prophet Nahum says in his prophecy: “Woe to the bloody city! They are all full of lies and kidnapping. Predation does not go away….it is not a remedy for your brokenness. Your wound is incurable” (Na 3:1, 19).

As well, the prophet Zephaniah prophesied about it, saying: “And He will make Nineveh a desolate wasteland like a wilderness….This is the joyful city, quiet and secure, saying in its heart: I am and there is no one else” (Zephaniah 2:13,15).

The message of Jonas the prophet:

In order to know the message of this prophet, we must refer to the book that bears his name, which is the book of the prophet Jonas, because this book presents to us one of the most important theological mysteries, and it is the mystery that Paul the Apostle called in his letter to the Ephesians:

“If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” (Ephesians 3:2-6).

It is clear that the mystery of Christ here is that God is not only for the Jews, but for the Gentiles as well.

The prophet Jonas wanted to convey these ideas to his people Israel, and he knew very well that it would be difficult for them to accept this idea, because he himself had once completely rejected the concept. Why?

Whenever the people of Israel sinned and deviated from God’s path, God warned them that He would chastise them by way of the Gentiles.

Therefore, the children of Israel looked at the Gentiles with intense hostility and wished for them continuous punishment, and they never thought of the possibility of salvation for these people. And they tried to search in the sayings of the prophets about the prophecies that predicted ruin and destruction for them, and there are many of them.

If they found any clue in the words of the prophets about the possibility of salvation for these peoples, they tried to interpret it in an incorrect symbolic way, so as to remove any possibility of their salvation from their thoughts.

Among the few clues that indicate God’s acceptance of the Gentiles, which the prophets mentioned incidentally, is the prophet Isaiah’s saying in his prophecy about John the Baptist: “A voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness (that is, among the peoples that did not know God) a way for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3).

Isaiah also speaks about the return of all Gentiles to the fold of the Lord: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it” (Isaiah 2:2). It is clear that these prophecies were referring to the era of the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

Such were the clues of the prophets. As for Jonas the prophet, instead of presenting theoretical teachings and sayings about God’s acceptance of the Gentiles’ repentance, he had to tell them the story of God’s dealings with him personally in the mission in which God sent him to the Gentiles to call them to repentance.

What made it clear to them that he initially rejected the idea of the Gentiles repenting and returning to God. And how he tried to escape from the face of the Lord so that he would not go and preach the good tidings to the Gentiles, so they would repent and return and God would forgive them. During his escape to Tarshish (which may be one of the ports of present-day Spain), God stirred up the sea against him, and the ship almost sank, so the sailors had to throw him into the sea, where God prepared for him a whale that swallowed him and kept him safe, then spewed him out on land. Jonas submitted to God’s command and went to preach to the people of Nineveh, who, as soon as they heard the warning, they repented to God, fasting a pure fast which in turn made God have mercy on them and forgave their sins.

God had taught Jonas a lesson he would never forget, and He now wants his Jewish brothers to learn this lesson. Here is the Church of the New Testament who also benefited from this lesson, codifying a special fast similar to the fast of the people of Nineveh in order to instill in the hearts of its children always that God does not only rejoice in the repentance and return of the sinner to Him, but that He is also not the God of a particular church or a particular people, but He is the God of all creation: “Who wants all people to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tim. 2:4), and that: “In every nation, he who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him.” (Acts 10:35)

In addition to this mystery revealed by the Prophet, which is the mystery of God’s acceptance of the Gentiles, he also emphasizes the life of repentance. It tells us about the repentance of the pagan sailors and their belief in God, God of the earth and the sea, and in their repentance they made vows to God and offered a sacrifice (Jonas 1:16). It also tells us of the repentance of the people of Nineveh, from their oldest to their youngest, and their return to God, remorseful and sitting in sackcloth and ashes (Jonas 3:59). He also tells us, albeit with a hidden sign, of his own repentance.

If the Prophet did not explicitly mention to us that he repented, but in writing this book he explicitly acknowledged the wrong path he took. Finally, he tells us about God’s remorse for the evil that he wanted to inflict on the people of Nineveh, and that the repentance of this people made God turn back from his threat to annihilate this country: “When God saw their deeds that they turned back from their evil path, God repented of the evil that He had spoken to do to them, and He did not do it.” (Jonas 3:10).

In the past, God wanted to find only ten pious people in Sodom and Gomorrah who would make Him turn back His anger and forgive them, but He did not find (Genesis 18:32). Furthermore, He wanted to forgive Jerusalem if He had found one righteous in it: “Roam the streets of Jerusalem and see, and find knowledge and search its squares. Do you find a person or is there a worker of justice who seeks the truth, so I forgive her?” (Jer 5:1)

As for the pagan city of Nineveh, it repented and turned back to God, so it obtained salvation, and it deserved, as Christ testified to it, to stand before the throne of God to condemn the cities that did not repent and accept the word of God: “The men of Nineveh will rise up in judgement with this generation and judge it, because they repented at the call of Jonas.” (Matt. 12:41).

❈ Sign of the Prophet Jonas:

How did Jonas become a sign?

The Gospel of Saint Matthew answers, saying: “Just as Jonas was in the belly of the whale 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” (Matthew 12:40). St. Luke’s Gospel adds: “For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.” (Luke 11:30).

The Pharisees asked the Lord to show them a sign from heaven, forgetting all the signs and miracles that He did among them. So the Lord showed them that this evil generation, which exceeded the people of Nineveh in its evil, needed another kind of signs, because the people of Nineveh repented as a result of Jonas’ calling without asking him for a sign to prove the truthfulness of his words.

That is why the Lord Jesus saw that they needed the sign of His incarnation and descension to our world, the sign of His death and burial in the grave for three days, then His resurrection from the dead, raising with Him all those who believe in Him in that generation and in all generations: “He raised us with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places” (Eph 2:6).

The sailors plotted against Jonas and threw him into the sea, and the belly of the whale became for him like “the bottom of the abyss” (John 2:2).

Thus the Jews revolted against the Lord and crucified Him, and He was buried in the “subsoil of the earth.”

And just as God kept Jonas safe and sound in the belly of the whale, and he was living in the hope that he would see God’s temple again: “But I return to look at your holy temple” (Jonas 2:5). This is how the prophecy said about the Lord Jesus that He was buried in hope: “Even my body will also rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in the grave, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 2:26,27; Psalm 16:9,10).

Just as Jonas came out of the belly of the whale after three days and three nights, and went and preached to the people of Nineveh, so the Lord rose from the dead on the third day and announced the good news of salvation to all creation. What is meant by “three days, three nights” is not three full days, because in the language of the Bible, and in the ancient Jewish literature in general, any part of the day is called a full day (example: 1 Kings 20: 29; Esther 4: 16, 5: 1; Luke 2:21).

Jonas’ descent into the belly of the whale and his safe exit was a sign for the people of Nineveh, which gave them life after the death sentence had been passed on them, “After forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonas 3:4). Thus, the death and resurrection of the Lord became the cause of eternal life for all who believe in Him, after we were all under the judgment of death because of the judgment that befell Adam and his descendants: “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’’ (1 Cor 15:21-22)