Second chances

Jonah 3:1-5

Conversion of Nineveh

​The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

Sometimes we resent it

when God gives second chances.

We've already judged and condemned,

passed sentence too.

And it doesn't involve another chance.

Fortunately God's mercy is not ours.

God's reservoir of grace overflows

even in the unlikeliest places.

Especially in the unlikeliest places.

And those expecting only condemnation

find themselves the recipients

of a gift so overwhelming

so transforming

that life can never be the same again.