Ascension Lutheran Church
January 24 - Third Sunday after Epiphany
The Lord Calls Us to Himself by the Preaching of Repentance in His Name
When “the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time,” sending him to preach judgment against the great city of Nineveh, “Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord” (Jonah 3:1,3). By this preaching, the people were brought to repentance. Because they “believed God,” as He spoke to them through His prophet, “they turned from their evil way” and were spared “the disaster that he had said he would do to them” (Jonah 3:5,10).
St. Paul also warns that “the appointed time has grown very short” (1 Corinthians 7:29). Therefore, while we live in this world and deal with it, we are not to cling to it, nor put our trust in it, for “the present form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31). Rather, give “your undivided devotion to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:35).
When our Lord Jesus Christ comes and is proclaimed in the Gospel, “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:14–15). Therefore, He still calls men and sends them to become “fishers of men” with the net of that Gospel (Mark 1:17).