Remembrance Day Talk. Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Remembrance Day is the day when we remember people, people who lost their lives defending their countries and the values of freedom and to give thanks to God for deliverance in the most dangerous times in our history, it is also a time of reflection on our responsibility as a Christian Church towards war and violence in the world and to express our deep longing for peace. The true peace that Christ offers.

Today, Remembrance is our response to the Gospel message of repentance and obedience. Our reading comes from the Book of Jonah the Prophet who lived for three days in the belly of a large fish. Jonah the man who rebelled against God. God wanted a messenger to go and tell the people of Nineveh that if they do not repent and leave their evil ways they would be destroyed, so Jonah ran away because he did not want to take on this responsibility, so he fled to another country, which was in the opposite direction, biblical scholars believed that the city of Tarshish Jonah’s destination was on the coast of Spain. Part of Jonah’s behaviour stems from his belief that God was only for the Jews not for the heathens. Therefore, heathens do not deserve any mercy or Salvation from his God.

The story continues and finally Jonah obeyed the Lord’s order. But only after he had learned two lessons. The first that he can’t hide himself from God’s face and the second is that God is not only to reward or to punish the people, but God makes His voice and His will clear to all the people and will always gives chances for new beginnings with Him.

However, when Jonah delivered God’s message to the people of Nineveh and asking them to repent, the result was amazing they obeyed and repented. The repentance of the King of Nineveh, and his call to the people to change is a story not only about God’s mercy and call to repentance but also the duty of Jonah the servant of God to preach the message that God wanted, but it’s also about the responsibility that we as a Christian church have and that is to be the messengers of God.

The real surprise in this story is the King and people of Nineveh, who when Jonah told them God’s message they repented and ” turned from their evil ways and the violence that was in their hands.”. They said: “maybe God will change his mind and maybe turn from his anger, so that we do not perish and He did. Jesus called the church the light of the world and called us to proclaim to the world the message of repentance, so that people would give up their evil ways of war and violence. In this way we will be called children of God the peacemakers. In Matthew 5:9, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God”.

It’s a great responsibility that Jesus puts on the church. Because “ All have turned away, they have together become worthless, there is no one who does good, not even one”. The evidence of this truth is in the wars that distract so many nations and futures of many peoples. The church is requested by its Lord to bear the fruit of the Spirit in its life. For Jesus said “ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last”. These fruits of the Spirit are mentioned in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians Chapter 5 verse 22 and one of them is peace.

Remembrance Day is the Day that should remind the church that if we are true disciples of Jesus Christ, we should not be like Jonah, as he was at the beginning of his story, that we should only love those who are close to us and are similar to us, for if we do, Jesus is saying to us, if you love those who love you, what credit is that to us? Even sinners love those who love them, but rather let us be like Jonah at the end of this story. A people who love others and preach to them the message of peace and reconciliation, then I believe we are true disciples of our Lord.

This Remembrance Day, Jesus is reminding us with these words “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God”.

Blessings Rev Ian.