Jonah 3:1-10 / Luke 11:29-32
To turn away from sin and to repent is certainly not easy at all nor as easy as it seems.
We can try to rely on our determination and will-power, but we must admit that we have given in and crumbled when the temptation is stronger.
Maybe at times the only way to get us to be serious with repentance is with the threat of punishment.
That was what the Lord told Jonah to do. His message to the Ninevites was short and sharp: Only forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.
But what was remarkable was that the Ninevites heeded the message of that Jewish prophet and although they had to be threatened with punishment, they repented and turned away from sin.
As for us, we certainly should be more sensible than the Ninevites.
We know what sin is and we know we have committed sin.
But we also know that Jesus suffered and died to save us from our sins and eternal punishment.
What should move us to repent and turn away from sin is not the threat of punishment but the love of God as expressed on the Cross.
May we see the love of God on the Cross, and through the power of the Cross may we repent and turn away from sin.