Homily for Sunday 24 September 2017
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp20_RCL.html#ot2
Jonah 3:10 - 4:11
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There is a common theme to all three readings that we have heard this Sunday: mercy. Specifically these readings point to Divine Mercy. The optional reading from the Old Testament that we have not heard contains this theme also, but with an interesting twist. The reading I'm referring to is the last verse of the third chapter and the whole of the fourth chapter of Jonah.
I must admit that of all the Old Testament prophets, Jonah is my favorite. I say that because, like the apostle Peter, Jonah is real and unedited in what comes from his mouth with lightning speed. The appointed reading from Jonah reveals for us a disturbed, even angry, prophet. And with whom is Jonah angry? He's upset with God.
As Christians, that makes us very uneasy. We don't like to talk about moments when anger is directed towards God. But today I invite you to set aside our anxiety at anger towards God and take a look at the experience of the prophet Jonah. At the beginning of this very short book of the Bible, easily readable in one setting, we find Jonah as he as received the charge from God to go to the city of Nineveh, the ancient city known today as Mosul in Iraq. Jonah wants no part of this charge. He literally goes the opposite direction; westward to the sea. He boards a ship heading who knows where in the attempt to run away from God. In the midst of a storm at sea, he realizes that he is the cause of the storm. He convinces those on the ship that they must throw him into the sea to save themselves. When they do, the storm stops immediately. A great fish swallows the prophet and returns him to the land. God has shown mercy to the prophet who tried to escape the presence of God and who has been reminded that no one can ever succeed in fleeing from God. On the land, God repeats the charge. Jonah submits. He goes to Nineveh. He speaks against the city in the name of God, calling the city to repentance. And when Jonah has completed his task, he finds a place outside the city to sit and await the judgment of God against the city.
But that judgment doesn't come. Nineveh heard the Word of God proclaimed by the prophet and repented before God. And when God saw how they repented, God forgave them and showed mercy upon the city.
Jonah is angry with God. The Scriptures don't identify the offense of the city that was bringing about punishment from God. And yet it is quite clear that Jonah believes the offense to be worthy of divine punishment that would mirror the judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah. It is inconceivable in the mind of the prophet that these people could repent and that God would forgive. Only when both occur does Jonah rationalize his initial response in which he tried to run away from the presence and calling of God. He ran because he knew that God would forgive even Nineveh if the people of that city actually repented. And make no mistake about the fact that Jonah was offended at that thought as a theory and angry when it became reality. He was not drawn to proclaim with the prophet Joel that God is "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Jonah wants to be able to cast a vote on who is and who is not worthy of Divine Mercy, and then to watch judgment fall down like fire from heaven.
Before we jump on Jonah for his response over Nineveh marked by anger towards God, let's pause for a moment and ask ourselves: "Who is Nineveh for us?" Who are those in our day and generation, in the world in which we live, who stir in us the emotions of Jonah? Make no mistake about the fact that we believe some to be incapable of repentance and beyond the possibility of forgiveness by us or by God. How ironic that is! We parrot Joel for ourselves, delighting in the promises of God that give us confidence that whenever we repent, God will forgive. And then we just as easily turn into Jonah. I dare say that if it were not for the transformation of the Resurrection yet to come that shall change us to be more like God, that if we remained in the world to come as we are in this world, we might be as angry with Jonah to see who God forgives in response to repentance and ushers into the eternal kingdom.
Only, my friends, we are not called to await that transformation of the Kingdom of God for the world to come. We are called here and now to grow daily in the knowledge and love of God, to embrace even now the transformation of the heart that makes us more and more like the God who is "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." And as we grow in grace in the Kingdom of God, we are challenged again and again to consider who is worthy of grace. The disturbing truth that arises from this growth is that the very last person whom we would deem worthy of Divine Mercy has as much right to forgiveness as do we. The moment that we make grace in terms of worthiness, either for us or someone else, we are no longer speaking of grace or mercy.
Thankfully God is always longing for mercy. The final word of Jonah's story is God speaking to Jonah about mercy and defending the forgiveness of Nineveh with tenderness and mercy even for the angry prophet. We don't know how Jonah responded. I'd like to think that when God's heart was fully opened to Jonah that the prophet repented of his desire to see punishment fall down upon Nineveh and his anger when repentance lead to forgiveness. We cannot say whether that happened. But what we can speak of and embrace is the commitment to joy when we encounter the mercy of God wherever it is found, and to repent for those moments when we have desired something else for anyone else. And, thanks be to God, whenever we repent, God is always quick to receive our repentance and to grant unto us the forgiveness that leads to eternal life and transforms our hearts more and more to be like the Divine Heart from which mercy and grace flow for the healing of all that God has made and loved.
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Father Timothy Alleman
Rector
The Church of the Holy Cross
Wilkes-Barre, PA
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