The Inner Jonah, Part II

Above:  A Stamp Depicting Jonah

Image in the Public Domain

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The Collect:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Jonah 2

Psalm 95

Philippians 2:14-18; 3:1-7

Matthew 26:36-56

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Psalm 95:8 (The Book of Common Prayer, 1979) tells us:

Harden not your hearts,

as you did in the wilderness,

at Meribah, and on that day at Massah,

when they tempted me.

In the same vein St. Paul the Apostle wrote:

Do everything without grumbling or argument.  Show yourselves innocent and above reproach, faultless children of God in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in a dark world and proffer the word of life.

–Philippians 2:14-16a, The Revised English Bible (1989)

Jesus, obedient to God, was about to die.

Jonah, seeking death, for the purpose of evading the call of God, could not get away from God and the divine call, as he learned.

Each of us has an inner Jonah.  Each of us, to some extent, hopes to avoid God and the divine call on life.  Each of us, to a certain extent, wants to live for self, not God.  Each of us, to some degree, finds the presence of God terrifying, or at least inconvenient and annoying.

Juxtaposing the stories of Jesus asking God to let the cup of crucifixion pass from him and of Jonah praying inside the big fish is interesting and appropriate.  We read that Jesus accepted that cup and went on to sacrifice himself, and that Jonah accepted the mission to Nineveh reluctantly.  Furthermore, we read in Philippians 1:21-26 that St. Paul the Apostle was at peace with the prospect of dying for Christ.

Jonah sticks out like a sore thumb in that company.  So do most of us.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 24, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF NICOLAUS SELNECKER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JACKSON KEMPER, EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT EDITH MARY MELLISH (A.K.A. MOTHER EDITH), FOUNDRESS OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE SACRED NAME

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Adapted from this post:

https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/devotion-for-the-third-sunday-in-lent-year-a-humes/

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