Today is March 12, Wednesday of the First Week of Lent.
At today’s Mass, we read: “Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation…. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here” (Lk 11:29, 32).
Jonah points to Jesus and tells us something about his mission in many ways. Of course, just as Jonah spent three days in the belly of the whale, Jesus will spend three days in the tomb. But in today’s gospel, Luke emphasizes the preaching of Jonah. His preaching to the Ninevites tells us something about the preaching of Jesus, which gives us hope this Lent.
God sent Jonah to a people to whom Jonah did not want to go. In fact, Jonah took a ship sailing as far away from Nineveh as possible. Even when Jonah did show up and proclaim God’s message to the Ninevites, he preached with the fewest words spoken by a prophet: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed” (Jon 3:4). The message did not even invite the Ninevites to repentance! Yet, Jonah’s message still had an effect. God spared Nineveh.
Descending into our hearts
Jesus willingly came to a world hostile to his message. St. John tells us that Christ “came to what was his own but his own people did not accept him” (Jn 1:11). But Jesus still came to us with a message to proclaim. As Jonah descended into the chaotic waters of the sea, Jesus descended into our chaotic nature and brought order and peace. As Jonah’s message changed the hearts of the Ninevites, Jesus’s message has changed us. As Jonah preached a message to non-Israelites, Jesus spoke to the whole world.
Jesus has descended into our hearts. Does he find them willing or unwilling to heed his message? Will we accept his message to us? Like Jonah changed the hearts of the Ninevites and Jesus’ message changed the hearts of the saints that came before us, Jesus can change our hearts, as well. He brings order to our lives. He brings salvation in the chaos of our hearts.
Let us pray,
Look kindly, Lord, we pray, on the devotion of your people, that those who by self-denial are restrained in body may by the fruit of good works be renewed in mind. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
