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A Story About God ~ Msgr. Daniel Hoye

Homily for The Third Sunday of Ordinary Time
Readings for today's Homily


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In the three year cycle of readings this is the only Sunday we hear from the prophet Jonah.

The book of the prophet Jonah is one of the shortest in the bible--its only four chapters long.

Basically it is a story-- not an historical story -- but a fictional story that teaches a truth; the truth of God's mercy. It tells the tale of a man named Jonah who is sent by God to preach to the people in a city called Nineveh.

The Ninevites were Jonah's enemy.  God said he was going to destroy the town of Nineveh unless the citizens repented and changed their way of living.



Jonah wanted nothing more than for these people to be destroyed, so instead of going to Nineveh he marches in the opposite direction and eventually boards a ship. The ship runs into a big storm and the passengers are wondering who to blame for their stroke of bad luck.  When they hear about Jonah and the fact that he was defying God's request to go to Nineveh they threw him overboard, hoping to save their own lives.

This is where the famous whale comes in.  Jonah is said to be swallowed by a fish and deposited on the shore three days later.

Once again God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and this time he goes--not happily but he goes.

He says only a few words--"Forty days more and the people of Nineveh shall be destroyed".  From the King on down, the people responded, did penance, and promised to repent. God Lord then spared them.

That is where our reading today ends.  There is a brief postscript:

Jonah went off and sulked because God had spared the Ninevites.  The Lord causes a large plant to sprout up and Jonah takes refuge from the burning sun under the plant.  Overnight the plant dies and Jonah sulks some more.  The Lord asks Jonah why he would be sad about a plant dying which Jonah did not plant or water.

He then asked Jonah to see if he could identify with God's concern over the Ninevites--over 120,000 people who were created and nourished by the Lord who were saved.

End of the story.

The book of Jonah is not really about Jonah; it's about God--specifically, it's about God's mercy and patience--God's willingness to give people a second chance--to give people the opportunity to repent, to reform their lives.

Jonah wanted to put boundaries around God's love and mercy...the Ninevites were his enemy and so he wanted them to be God's enemy as well but the Lord would have none of it. He wanted his message spread to the Ninevites and despite Jonah's reluctance, the word was spoken.

The message of Jonah is about God's mercy but also reminds us that that people can change, they can reform their lives if they open themselves to the voice of the Lord as spoken through others such as Jonah.

How can we take this message and apply it to our lives?

One possibility is to open ourselves to the challenge to change.  Are we as open to the Lord's call for conversion as the people of Nineveh.  Are we honest about ourselves and how we need to modify our behavior to be more in conformity with the Lord.

Is there a Jonah in our midst whispering to us to change our lives--change our behavior, change our relationships, change our way of doing business. Perhaps the whispers come from spouses, children, parents, teachers, coworkers, friends.  Whoever it might be that cares for us and hopes that we see the need for change in our lives.

It will be three years before we hear the story of Jonah again.  May it not be so long before we make necessary changes in our lives.





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