Breaking the Word

27^th Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 10^th October 2023 – Jonah 3,1-10; Lk 10,38-42

Whole Hearted Response

In the first reading, Jonah reaches Nineveh and preaches to them. The people heard of Jonah’s announcement and decided to practice the traditional acts of penance (fasting, wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes), and waited on the mercy of the Lord. When the king heard the message, he also made the fast official by issuing an edict to the people to turn from their evil ways. The entire population, from the king on the throne to the lowest peasant in the field were in action. God gave the people forty days of grace, but they didn’t need that long. The Ninevites fasting and praying, their humbling of themselves before God, sent a message to heaven. They hoped that God’s great compassion would move Him to change His plan and spare the city. At some point, God spoke to Jonah and told him that He had accepted the people’s repentance and would not destroy the city. Indeed, this was simply God’s response to man’s change of heart. If repentance and faith are the basic conditions of salvation (Acts 20,21), then we have the reason to believe that the Ninevites actions were accepted by God. The fact that Jesus used the Ninevites to shame the unbelieving Jews of his day is further evidence that their response to Jonah’s proclamation was sincere and whole hearted (Mt 12,38-41).

27^th Week in Ord. Time, Monday – 9^th October 2023 – Jonah 1,1-2,11; Lk 10,25-37

Wrong Attitudes

In the first reading, God asked Jonah to preach a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh. Jonah is appalled at the idea of trying to convert them and does not want to go there. So, Jonah sets off westward, in the opposite direction, and boards a ship to get as far away as possible from both Nineveh and Yahweh – quite a futile thing to do. Jonah got into trouble because his attitudes were wrong. He had a wrong attitude toward the will of God. Obeying the will of God is very much important for God’s servant. It’s in obeying the will of God that we find our spiritual nourishment (Jn 4,34), enlightenment (Jn 7,17) and enablement (Heb 13,21). To Jesus, the will of God was food that satisfied Him. To Jonah, the will of God was medicine that choked him. Jonah’s wrong attitude toward God’s will stemmed from a feeling that the Lord was asking him to do an impossible thing. He forgot that the will of God is the expression of the Love of God (Ps 33,1), and that God called him to Nineveh because he loved both Jonah and the Ninevites. He also had a wrong attitude toward the Word of God. Because he thought he could “take it or leave it.” However, God’s word commands us to listen and obey; disobedience isn’t an option. He had a wrong attitude toward circumstances; he thought they were working for him when they were really working against him. Jonah forgot that it was a great privilege to be a prophet, to hear God’s word, and know God’s will. He forgot that “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Rom 11,29).