Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Today is Ash Wednesday


A CALL TO REPENT


For the last four or five days we have seen the worst carnages that this country has witnessed in its recent history. From the blasts at Dambulla and Madhu, to the one at Colombo Fort railway station one sees the terrible had of the evil one. It appears that this country is set for its own destruction just as Nineveh was at the time of Jonah, the prophet. However the wisdom of the people of Nineveh made them listen to prophet and repent.

To repent is to mend our ways – to turn from evil to embrace what is right.

Will Sri Lanka repent and be saved or …?

In the
Old Testament, Jonah is mentioned twice, first in 2 Kings 14:25 (as a prophet in the time of King Jeroboam II) and later in the Book of Jonah. He was the son of Amittai (meaning 'My Faithfulness'), from the Galilean village of Gath-hepher near Nazareth. God orders Jonah to prophesy to the city of Nineveh. Not wanting to, Jonah tries to avoid God's command by going to Joppa and sailing to Tarshish. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing this is no ordinary storm, cast lots and learn that Jonah is to blame. Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard the storm will cease. The sailors try to get the ship to the shore but in failing feel forced to throw him overboard, at which point the sea calms. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish. In chapter two, while in the great fish, Jonah prays to God and asks forgiveness. As a result, God commands the fish to vomit Jonah out.
God again orders Jonah to visit Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants. This time he goes there and walks through the city crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be destroyed." The Ninevites believe his word and appoint a public fast, ranging from the King (who puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes) to the humblest person. God has compassion and spares the city for the time being.
Embittered by this, Jonah questions the need for his journey, stating that since God is merciful it was inevitable that God would yield to the Ninevites' entreaties. He then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed.
God causes a plant to grow over Jonah's shelter to give him some shade from the sun. Later, a worm bites the plant's root and it withers. Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and desires that God take him out of the world.
But God says to him, "Are you really so very angry about the little plant?...You were upset about this little plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day. Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals!" (Jonah 4:9-11)