Diagram of saved city
Jonah 3 tells how God changed his mind (!) about Nineveh, thanks to Jonah’s pleading. Luke 11.29-32 builds on this. It took a Jonah, but a greater God-mover was among Jesus’ listeners, he told them, meaning himself.
More on this Jonah-Jesus comparison: Jonah was (a) thrown overboard at his request (b) to save his shipmates in the dreadful storm, (c) sacrificing himself for others.
Jesus also sacrificed himself, as we know, but achieved more, ransoming us all from perdition, not just a city. He is the hero of any day’s re-enactment of that self-sacrifice, namely the mass — a truly cosmic event.
