by Dr. Jacob Mathew

A giant star adorns the large campus of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Panthalam, Kerala state, overlooking Pallibhagam valley in early January 2018 (Photo by Dr. Jacob Mathew, Malankara World)

Christmas and New Year decorations are still present in most places and the last event in the birthday of Jesus Christ in our liturgy, namely presentation in Temple (Mayaltho), is still a few weeks away (Feb 2) and we are already into Nineveh Lent or 3 Day Lent. Nineveh Lent is the precursor to the Great Lent. (Great Lent comes 3 weeks after the Nineveh Lent.) Time to finish all the new marriages, as no marriages are permitted during the Great Lent and Passion Week.

We were in Kerala for a short visit to attend the wedding of my niece and attended two other weddings in a span of 10 days. So, just like the spiritual significance of Christmas is being diluted by the overemphasis on gift exchange and other material things, the Nineveh Lent is being equated to the end of marriage season. Actually, in our church Nineveh Lent is used in preparation for the advent of the Great Lent. Try a short Lent (3 days) before embarking on a long 50 day lent. Makes sense.

When we read the short book of Jonah in Old Testament we learn a few valuable lessons:

1. You cannot hide from God. God is everywhere. Jonah tried to run away; but failed.

2. God's mercy is limitless. It doesn't matter how serious our sins are, if we repent and plead for mercy God will grant it. God gives us second chances and do change His mind.

3. God get no pleasure from destroying His creation. He, like the father of the prodigal son, waits for us to repent and come to Him.

4. We cannot enter the Kingdom of God, unless we repent and confess and go there with a clean slate.

God asked Prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people of Nineveh that due to their wickedness, God will wipe them off from the face of the earth.

"Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me."
-Jonah 1:1-2 (NKJV)

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
-Jonah 3:1-4 (NKJV)

It does look like God had made up his mind to destroy them like Sodom and Gomorrah. All Jonah was doing was to tell them of the "Judgement of God and the punishment." Their fate is already determined and sealed.

But a surprising turn of events happened in Nineveh. The people of Nineveh listened to Jonah and believed in God!

5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
-Jonah 3: 5-9 (NKJV)

WOW! Ninevites believed in God. When Jonah told them that they will be destroyed for their evil and wicked life, they didn't question God. They knew they deserved the judgement of God. They (everyone including the family of the King) immediately repented and asked God for mercy. They fasted and prayed. They had a well fortified city and didn't think that they are safe there. God saw their contrite hears and changed His mind. They were saved from destruction. Contrast this to the people of Sodom. When they were told that God is going to punish them, they got drunk and wanted to enjoy more pleasures than repenting. The result is that Ninevites were saved and Sodomites were wiped away from the face of the earth.

Both John the Baptist, the forerunner to Messiah, and Jesus Christ, the Messiah, started their ministries calling people to, "Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Repentance is the golden key to enter the Kingdom of God.

In our liturgy, every sacrament begins with Psalm 51, commonly called the 'Repentance Psalm'. David says that God likes a contrite heart, not sacrifices. In Malayalam a contrite heart is described as "njurungiya hrudayam" - a broken heart - broken from sin. But when we repent, the damages to the heart is slowly healed. But the scar remains. There is something beautiful about a broken and patched up heart as opposed to a perfect heart. (Actually, there is nothing like a perfect person. We all sinned. The only person who hasn't sinned is Jesus Christ. So, our hearts have tears and patches in them. Some may have more; some may have less; but all of us have tears and patches.)

Like Ninevites and David, there is a method to true grieving and repentance that is pleasing to the God. Luke Ahrens writes,

Grief must be real. Artificial grief will not work, or bring lasting change. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: "As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting . . . For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).

The test of grief is not elephant tears, tearing yourself down, or a willingness to try better or harder next time. For sure it is not about sorrow over getting caught or having to suffer the consequences of a choice. Sadly, many people settle for artificial grief that focuses on surface issues and never addresses the real heart issues.

The test of genuine grief is the presence of heart-level repentance - Truly confessing our sin to God and turning away from that sin. Repentance demonstrates itself in passion for biblical change, regardless of the difficult decisions that must be made to walk out that repentance. It's a repentance that strikes deep and we just know that we have to turn from what we've been doing wrong.

King David is a great example on how to respond to the conviction of sin with genuine grief and heart-level repentance. In Psalm 51 after falling into to egregious sin, David pours out his heart to the Lord in confession, he holds nothing back; then he asked the Lord to "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).

So, the next time we find ourselves being confronted by the Holy Spirit about our sin, let's do away with artificial nonsense and stick with real grief and real repentance. That is the only way to real healing and change and brings the greatest joy in Christ!

Make preparations for cleansing of our hearts during the Nineveh Lent and the Great Lent so that we are ready to participate in the Passion week that follows.