Reflections on 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) from “First Impressions”

“FIRST IMPRESSIONS”

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B) JANUARY 21, 2024

Jonah 3: 1-5, 10 / Psalm 25 / I Cor 7: 29-31 / Mark 1: 14-20

by Jude Siciliano, O.P. <jude@judeop.org>

Dear Preachers:

I would think that the last thing in the world Jonah would want to do was to follow God’s command. “Set out for the great city of Nineveh and announce to it the message I will tell you.” We know that because of how the story began (cf. Chapter 1). After receiving God’s directions to go to Nineveh Jonah flees the scene and boards a ship to Tarshish. But God wants him to preach to the Ninevites so we know what happens. God hurls a storm at the boat Jonah is on. It is such a bad storm even the experienced crew are frightened. They realized Jonah was the cause of their misfortune because he is fleeing from God. Jonah knew what they must do—throw him overboard. When they do, the storm ceases, the waters are calm.

Next comes the famous scene. God sends a large fish (2:1) which swallows Jonah and dumps him, where else, but on the shores of the great city of Nineveh; where Jonah was supposed to go in the first place. Doesn’t God have some unusual ways of getting things done?

The Jonah story has been called a fable, farce, satire and even a joke. This improbable story is fun to read. Jonah winds up in the belly of a “great fish”—or as we name it, a whale. Well, God has certainly gotten Jonah’s attention. From the fish Jonah pleads, blames and praises God. Then God commands Jonah again, “Set out for the great city of Nineveh and announce to it the message I will tell you.” And it is a severe message from God that Jonah must preach to the Ninevites, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”

Jonah’s message to the Ninevites is not very hopeful. There is no offer of mercy in his preaching. Is this the fearful One we stereotypically call, the “Old Testament God?” Is this the God who, at the end of the Old Testament, has a personality change and becomes kind and merciful, the God Jesus brings to us? No! The God of Jonah is the same God of Jesus.

Jonah’s message gets a receptive hearing, the entire city repents. They repent without any great act of faith, just under a threat of destruction. Jonah must have been disappointed. The Ninevites were part of the cruel, conquering Assyrian nation, the enemy of the Israelites, yet God offers them mercy. In fact, after seeing what God had done for the Ninevites, Jonah goes away sulking over God’s kindness to his enemies. Jonah did not want to see God extend mercy to all people— especially to enemies.

As I write this, a few days before Christmas, there have been 20,000 Palestinian casualties in the war between Hamas and Israel. 1200 Israelites were slaughtered in October and over 100 hostages are still being held by Hamas. The Jonah story may be a tall tale, but we get the point: enemies must talk to one another and not first draw arms.

The story shows human vindictiveness displayed in Jonah’s preferring not to fulfill God’s message to his enemies. But we can call God “strong-willed,” persisting against the prophet’s protest. God’s graciousness comes through in the story and triumphs over the prophet’s opposition.

God persisted despite Jonah’s opposition and, we learn, intervenes in sometimes surprising ways to accomplish God’s purposes. The prophet felt justified and expected God’s wrath upon the Ninevites. Instead, God was, and is, merciful and rewards repentance. God’s mercy is not limited to the Israelites, or any other group of people we might want to name, but extends beyond any limits we, like Jonah, want to put on God.

This has been a longer than usual reflection on our text—the first reading. The Book of the Prophet Jonah is only four chapters long, a quick read, but its message is clear. It seriously resists depicting the “God of the Old Testament” as wrathful and judgmental. God, who shines through the brief four chapters of the Book of Jonah is, above all, merciful and loving. The book is not about prophetic utterances, but is a story of a man named Jonah who is not called a prophet in the book. God usually sends prophets to Israel, but Jonah is sent to address the capital of Assyria. Nineveh is a symbol of empire. It was called a “city of blood” by Nahum (Nah 3:1).

Like the ancient Israelites, who suffered under the cruel yoke of the Assyrian Empire, we can be very restrictive about where and how we think God gives mercy. Jonah, nor any of his Israelite contemporaries, would ever have imagined that the people of Nineveh would have heard his message, believed in God and proclaimed a fast. What would also have surprised them was that God would be concerned about the salvation of any other nation than Israel, especially one that had been so brutal.

In the eyes of the Ninevites Jonah would have been considered a prophet from an insignificant nation the Assyrians had conquered. Notice how the Ninevites responded to Jonah’s preaching. It wasn’t just a few conscientious people who took his word to heart and responded but, “all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.”

God “repented” too. God would not follow through with the threat of total destruction. The instrument for the conversion of Nineveh wasn’t the threat of military conquest. Nineveh could repel that. It was the power of God’s word to transform even the biggest sinners. Who would have guessed that the reluctant Jonah would have been such a powerful instrument to preach and convert the Ninevites? Such is the power of the living word of God.

Is listening to that word a source of conversion for us also? Do we pray with the Scriptures; prepare to hear them when we come to Mass; pray to the Holy Spirit to open our hearts to accept God’s call for us in the word? And more… have we noticed how the most unlikely people, like the confused prophet Jonah, can be instruments through whom God reaches out to us with the life-giving, life-changing word of God? Have we noticed?

How receptive are we to the unusual messengers God puts in our lives? It might help us be more receptive if we took home, from today’s celebration, the Responsorial Verse and prayed it, “Teach me your words, O Lord.”

JUSTICE BULLETIN BOARD

“Time is running out”

1 Corinthians 7: 29

These are interesting words to contemplate at the beginning of a new year when one feels like time is just beginning again. Yet, how often in this “new” time period do we find that resolutions made one day are forgotten the next. The word “time” is nuanced in Greek. In today’s Gospel, when Jesus says “This is the time of fulfillment,” he uses the Greek term kairos for “time.” Kairos is “sacred time.” However, the “time” used in the Corinthians passage is different and means “has been drawn together, compacted, made short.” The same word was used in classical Greek for stowing sails, packing luggage, and reducing expenses. Our modern term would be “downsizing.”

Paul addresses five situations of Christian living (those married, those in sorrow, those in joy, business people, and those overusing the world) which should not distract us from our devotion to God. We need a radical perspective about proper priorities in life. We need to trim our life sails, get rid of excess, and simplify our lives in order to clearly establish our life and relationship with our Creator in a changing world.

Imagine making a resolution that would seek to practice the presence of God in your life every day. What would the ramifications of such an attitude produce?

Married people in distress would be more gentle with each other as God is gentle with them.

Those in sorrow would trust that God is also sorrowing with them.

Those in joy would realize that joy is meant to be shared with those less fortunate children of God.

Business people with God on their shoulder would act with integrity in all their transactions.

Those who are using the world’s resources in excess would remember that God appointed each of us to be good stewards of creation.

Time is running out. Want suggestions for re-prioritizing your life’s purpose with God? Check out our website: Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral | Human Life, Dignity & Justice (raleighcathedral.org) for a listing of our outreach ministries. Helping others is a good way to re-prioritize your life, to forget your own troubles, and to find God actively at work. You might also discover who God meant you to be. Have a beautiful year!

Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director,
Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries
Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC

FAITH BOOK

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run.

From today’s Gospel reading:

As Jesus passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother casting their nets into the sea.…

Jesus said to them, “Come after me and I will make you fishers of people.” Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.

Reflection:

We hear Jesus’ invitation, “Come follow me,” each day, as life presents us with choices. Shall we forgive when asked? Shall we help someone in need? Shall we buy less for ourselves and give more to the poor? Shall we see the injustice or turn a blind eye? In these, and so many other occasions, we hear the same invitation Jesus made to those fishermen and like them, we put other considerations aside to follow him.

So we ask ourselves:

What recent choices have I made that show my desire to follow Christ? What changes do I have to make in my life to follow him more fully?