Share the Word

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

• Display the Jonah circular painting above - you can click on the image to view and/or download a larger version.
• Use the poem below as a ‘catch up’ to fill in the story of Jonah that comes before today’s reading.
• Draw attention to the painting – it illustrates ‘what happened next’, and follow this with the reading.

Well, Jonah hated Nineveh
where God wanted him to go.
He said ‘No Lord, send me elsewhere,
I’m not going. No Lord, no!’
But the day was wild and stormy
and he fell into the sea,
where a big fish swallowed Jonah,
(fish for dinner, man for tea!)
After three days in the big fish
you would think that he’d be dead,
but the big fish spat him out again,
near Nineveh, instead.
So, this time, Jonah thought he’d
better do as he’d been asked,
though he made it clear as crystal
that he didn’t like the task.
And now you’ll hear the story
of the people of the town,
and the way that God forgave them
though they’d badly let him down.

Mark 1:14-20

Ask: Have you ever read a story where you can’t wait to read the next chapter, or watched an episode on TV and were desperate to see the next one? In this Gospel story, we see the disciples enthused and ready to follow the call. So, what happened next? Did they follow with the same willingness when things got harder?

Now read Mark 1:14-20.