Be A True Prophet In An Assyrian Age

On this third Sunday in “ordinary time,” we read (and many parishes sing) the Introit from Ps 96, “sing a new song to the Lord; sing to the Lord all the earth. In his presence are majesty and splendor, strength and honor in his holy place.”

Wow! An unchurched American, reading that, might ask “where is He? That sounds like a wonderful place to be.” She might contrast that Biblical scene with our own land, where inflation has left the poor even worse off than they were just a couple of years ago, crime has left many afraid to leave home after 6 p.m. and politics has made us the most divided, probably since the period 1858-1870.

That wonderful place is not here. All today’s Scriptures look to the future. The Book of Jonah is a little like the Sunday newspaper comic section. The prophet Jonah hears the word of God telling him to go preach repentance to Nineveh, the capital city of the most brutal empire in human history. They reveled in piling up the severed heads of people whose cities they had conquered.

So instead of going east to Nineveh, prophet J. catches a merchant boat going west to Spain (or anywhere else but Nineveh in Assyria). God stirs up a mighty storm and the pagan crew sacrifices to all their false gods but the wind and waves just get worse. They draw lots and find Jonah is their nemesis. Reluctantly, they sacrifice him to the sea, where he is swallowed by a big fish. After three days the fish can’t stomach the coward either and vomits him onto the beach, where he finally “gets it” and goes off to do what God told him to do in the first place. That’s the back story for today’s message of repentance from sin. By the way, God’s mind doesn’t “change.” He’s always ready to forgive us. He loves us unconditionally, even to death.

The story tells us that Jonah begins his message, expecting, we suppose, to be stoned to death. But the Ninevites actually listened and did repent, all the way from the donkey on the street to the king in his palace. You never know what the response will be to you sharing the divine message, by whatever means is best for you. I've been posting these homilies since 2008 and several hundred people a week seem to benefit. Take the shot. You might score a goal, but do the good whether you succeed or not.

Psalm 25, then, is a prayer of repentance, reminding God of His mercy and begging forgiveness. We don’t have to remind God of something He has promised to do, and has done, countless times. If you need to do that, please do it today.

St. Paul reminds his Corinthians, and us, that “time is short.” All of us must look forward to the day when we will face Jesus as our judge. Once we are in heaven, we won’t have more kids, so there is no marital union. Jesus will wipe all our tears of mourning away. There’s no commerce, except prayer, so we don’t need money. We’ll all practice poverty, celibacy and obedience, so Paul commends us to get as close as we can to that life here on earth.

Jesus, in Galilee, today begins His mission with a clear message, very like that of the repentant prophet Jonah. We must repent of sin and believe in the Gospel He taught. He also looks forward to the foundation of the Church, and recruits the leaders who will continue His work after the Resurrection. So, having repented of sin and turned your full attention to Jesus, now ask yourself the critical question “how do I fish for men and women and invite them to come to Christ and His Church? And if I don’t, how should I do that?”