COMMENTARY

Old Testament: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Jonah refuses to obey God's command to preach to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrians. After Jonah repents and is vomited out of a large fish, Jonah obeys and preaches judgment to Nineveh. The coming disaster causes the government and people to repent. Thereupon God decides not to condemn the city. Jonah reflects the nationalistic concept of God in the post-exilic period. Yahweh is not the God only of Israel but of the world. Judgment motivates repentance, and God's mercy is extended to any people who repent, regardless of nationality or race. God's salvation depends on repentance and not on national origin.

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
This pericope comes from the chapter dealing with marriage. The Lesson begins with life lived in relat…