“IN THOUGHT AND ACTION”
Jonas 3: 1-10
Quinquagesima: 2 March Anno Domini 2022
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
“And they twain shall be one flesh” [Mt. 19.5b]. So spoke The Lord. “The Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone” [Gen. 2.18].
The Word is not just the Bible; that’s a heterodox sectarian misunderstanding. The Word is God enfleshed. And even before The Blessed Assumption on March 25th and before the Nativity on December 25th The Word was. That’s what Saint Jonah/Jonas/John writes in his Gospel prologue.
The Word, the 2nd Person of The Trinity came into the nothingness and made all things. The Word came for Adam after the first transgression; had He not Adam would have gone to hell forever and that would have been the end of it, of everything. But The Word comes for His creatures. He comes to seek the lost, to save, to bring Good News of the forgiveness of sins. For where there is forgiveness there is life and salvation.
Man has nothing to say (much less to do—of his own resources—blind leading the blind). The Word has everything to say—yes, things that are said, spoken, Gospelled, are words, but always by The Word.
The Word came to Abram and God’s people as distinct from all fallen humanity started in a recognizable way. The Word came to Moses, first in the burning bush, then on Sinai, then in the Tabernacle—foreshadowing the Incarnation itself.
The Word came to Samuel, and by this God-Talker (Prophet) The Word came to David. The Word came to Esaias and Jeremias. Jeremias, much like Moses, tried to shirk his Divine Call; to no avail. The Word works! The Word came to all the Prophets. The Word came to John, i.e., Jonas, whom we commonly refer to as Jonah. He too tried to evade The Word’s call. Thus:
“And The Word of The Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” And yes, while that’s not all the pastor has to do in the Nineveh’s of the world, it is the chief thing. Not to be creative, interesting, dynamic and bold, or even friendly (in a humanistic way) for that matter; but to “preach…the preaching that I bid thee.” Jonah refused at first. You know the fish story. The Word worked—first through the Law. Jonah three days in the belly of death, deep down, with a crown of sea-weed “thorns” wrapped about his head. Jonah typifying what The Word would one day suffer for you, do for you on Calvary.
This text/reading would have been another good pairing, as the Old Testament, for the Sunday where the Gospel is The Word’s parable about the ungrateful workers in the vineyard—carping about those hired at the last hour receiving the same wages.
Jonah obeys The Word the second time and goes to Nineveh—even worse than going to Detroit or South L.A.; maybe as bad as being sent to D.C.
This Assyrian capital is so large it takes three days to travel its diameter. The sin of Jonas, your sin too, far too often, is not that he didn’t do what he was told. Oh, he did. He cried, i.e., preached, “yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
It’s fulfilling for “old Adam” to preach The Law! “DO THIS, or God will give you some!” We all love to tell others that they’re sinning, that they’re sinners. You are pharisaical when you lecture others about the mote in their eye and act better than those loathsome ‘Publicans.’
Jonah wanted those pagan swine Ninevites to taste some comeuppance and justice (after all, he was still stinking of fish no doubt, maybe a bit bleached from stomach acid) And then the miracle. The Word works. Because The Word Himself always comes to His own.
“So the people…believed God.” All Christians should give thanks and praise for this contrite repentance. But note this my fellow Ash-Wednesday brethren—why are you wearing a cross-smudge of REAL ash on your foreheads instead of just an inner repentant calm and repose? It’s because you, and all Christians are not meant to be “spiritual” ectoplasmic ghost believers with your emotions fliting around in the aether. You are flesh and blood children of The Word. Your actions should, must, reflect your inner beliefs. No one can see what’s in your heart. No one hear the Gospel of a man who is both mute and unwilling to move in the Mercy The Word has given him.
Be like the Ninevites. A fast was proclaimed. Fast during Lententide. Fast from neglecting The Word and prayer and Mass attendance; fast from some chronic debilitating habit/sin that plagues you. Be a man like that Ninevite king and lead your own people in action that show your faith. “The people…put on sackcloth…and sat in ashes.”
They repented and believed. Now, whether there were some hypocritical “man-pleasers” amongst the populace just “going through the motions,” well, sure. There are always phony narcissists who will genuflect and make the most Holy and Blessed sign of + The Cross without meaning it—confessing. So what. What is that to you, or to Jonah? He was mad because The Word was showing mercy to those that Jonah thought ought to be punished; or at least not rewarded the way good followers of God are. He was like his New Testament namesake that wanted The Word to call fire and brimstone down on the pagan, or at least, in-hospitable, Samaritan village.
No. God had mercy. His mercy was in sending The Word. The Word worked. They repented and God forgave them.
Jonas sulked outside the city. The Word had a seed that grew into a leafy gourd-type canopy to cover Jonas from the heat of the blistering sun; from sin?
When the plant died the prophet actually had pity for it, lamenting its demise.
You who pity puppies that are killed, baby seals that are clubbed to death, sad movies and television series that are fake; The Word says have mercy and compassion on Nineveh. You are not called and ordained Servants of The Word, holding the Office of The Holy Ministry. But you nonetheless share the Lenten Gospel to those you are sent to. You do proclaim “repent and believe” in words to be sure; always letting the Mercy of The Gospel predominate. But during Lent I challenge you to show what you believe, what you really believe about How The Word interacts with you here; show it with your body and actions.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
Email the webmaster.Contact Augsburg Lutheran Church: (913) 403-6194