The Second Time

(Note: You may not realize it but today is your lucky day. We get a SECOND chance to hear from Mark Potter in one week! Thank you, Mark, for sharing your love and reflections with us on the Lenten journey)

Sometimes, you just need more information…  Many readings in the bible are notorious for starting off in a way that as a reader, you need some more information, right?

“…and they left that place…” – WHAT PLACE?! 

This happens today:

“…the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time…”

SECOND TIME?  What happened the first time?

So, to better understand Jonah’s success in Nineveh, lets back up to get the whole story…  You all might know the story of Jonah and the Whale. 

God asks Jonah to go to this place Nineveh to tell the people there to calm it down a bit.  Stop all this partying.  You all are getting out of control!  Jonah is scared to do this for what it might mean for him, so he ignores God.  He gets swallowed by a whale, and sits in the belly of the whale for 3 days.  During those three days, you have to imagine that Jonah is very reflective about ignoring God, and we can probably imagine the guilt and remorse Jonah had.  After 3 days – the whale spits him out. It is almost like as repulsed as Jonah was with himself, the whale can’t even stand the taste of him either – like a sour grape.  And then we pick up at the start of the scripture today.  Jonah gets up, dusts himself off, goes to Nineveh, delivers the message from God, and BAM, they repent, say sorry and calm that party down a bit. 

I often find it helpful to ask questions aloud if they don’t make sense to me so I can try to understand them a bit more (take note that “try” is the operative word here):

1. Why did Jonah need to be asked twice?
2. Why do they use a story of being stuck in a whale’s stomach for 3 days?

Jonah did not go the first time he was asked to deliver a message because he was afraid of what would happen to him delivering such a “not fun” message.  You’ve probably heard it said: “don’t kill the messenger!” 

Messengers get a bad rap.  And whether they get a bad rap or not, delivering bad news is never easy.  I wouldn’t want to be in the messenger’s position.

I wouldn’t want to be the guy to drive up to cut someone’s power for non-payment.

I wouldn’t want to be the one to “serve” someone their court papers.

I wouldn’t want to be the officer knocking on a door to let someone know their loved one has died in an accident.

Jonah, being afraid to be the messenger of bad news, caused him to IGNORE God’s request, even though he knew the request was the right thing to do.  Working with kids and teens in the parish, we talk about this with the teens and kids all the time.  Sometimes kids are afraid of standing up for what’s right.  Sometimes we ignore bullies.  We keep quiet when we see injustice or inequality, because we are afraid what will happen to us.  The hardest part of being a messenger is that you have to be willing to take the heat for what you’re standing up for.  This is WHY Jonah needed to be asked a second time – he needed time to muster up the courage.

Perhaps this brings up to WHY the image of the belly of a whale is used.

When we go against what we know is the right thing to do, our minds and spirits go to a place in the depths of our inner-self to work try and work it out. 

Call it soul-searching…. Call it navigating in the dark…

It can have many names, but we “go somewhere” to work these things out in our own minds.  This is why we see Jonah sitting the belly of a whale for 3 days… I don’t know if any one of you have seen a whale’s stomach, but it is not a pretty place!  In fact, it’s gross!  And there is your metaphor for the week:

I think it’s safe to assume we all have been there sometime in our life.  The good news is that when we are in that dark place there is opportunity to come in to the light!  Lent just began last Wednesday.   For a brief moment, we are transported to a place where we are mindful of how we did something other than how we should have. 

ASH Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, we receive ashes on our forehead and the ashes are a sign of humility for our sins.  A reminder of the times we did not say “yes” to God.  As the ashes are put on our forehead we hear: TURN AWAY FROM YOU SINS ANND BE FAITHFUL TO JESUS. Not, “Turn away from your sins, failure!”  You hear that GOD FORGIVES YOU, now FORGIVE YOURSELF and move on!  Lent is a great opportunity to go to Nineveh a second time.  To do it right, even if we have failed in the past.  The story of Jonah tells us that if we choose to get down on ourselves and sit with the guilt of our transgressions, we too can endure darkness like being on the inside the belly of a whale. 

But – If we pick ourselves up, brush off the dust and BE FAITHFUL TO JESUS, we will need sunglasses for all the light surrounding us.