WEDNESDAY 1ST WEEK OF LENT
READINGS AND COMMENTARY:
THE SIGN OF JONAH
(Lk 11:29-32)
Jon 3:1–10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the Lord’s bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his nobles: “Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; every man shall turn from his evil way and from the violence he has in hand. Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath, so that we shall not perish.” When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.
- God asks for penance, a penance which is sincere and stems from our heart. He wants our repentance and contrition which are manifested into external works of sacrifice and exercise of charity.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
With all your heart turn to me for I am tender and compassionate.
Lk 11:29–32
- Nineveh was a city in Mesopotamia (now the modern Iraq) to where the prophet Jonah was sent to preach conversion and penance.
- The Ninevites obeyed the prophet (Jonah 3:6-9) because they acknowledged him as such and accepted his message.
- This is in contrast with Jerusalem which does not wish to recognize Jesus, of whom Jonah was merely a figure.
- The queen of the South refers to the queen of Sheba in southwestern Arabia, who visited Solomon (1 Kings 10:1-10) and was amazed with the wisdom which God had given Solomon, the King of Israel.
- Jesus is also prefigured in Solomon, whom Jewish tradition considered as the epitome of the wise man.
- Jesus’ reproach is seen clearly by the example of pagan converts, and gives us a glimpse of the universal scope of Christianity, which will take root and spread among the Gentiles.
- This generation will not be given another sign than Jonah’s. The sign of Jonah refers to the 3 days in which he was inside the whale’s body which prefigures the duration of Jesus’ stay in “hell” after which He resurrected on the 3rd day. As the Commentary of the Navarre Bible to Mt 12:39-40 states:
- Jesus’ glorious Resurrection is the “sign” par excellence, the decisive proof of the divine character of his person, of his mission and of his teaching.
- When St Paul (1 Cor 15:3-4) confesses that Jesus Christ “was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (words which later found their way into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Creed used in the Mass), he must have had this passage particularly in mind. We can see another allusion to Jonah in the words our Lord spoke shortly before his Ascension: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead” (Lk 24:45-46).
- Throughout Lent we are all invited to penance and conversion. Saint Augustine comments:
- Jonah proclaimed, not the mercy, but the wrath to come. He didn’t say, you see, “Three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown; but if you repent within these three days, God will spare you.” He didn’t say that. He only threatened the city’s overthrow, and foretold that alone. And yet they didn’t despair of God’s mercy, they turned to repenting, and God did spare them. But what are we to say? That the prophet lied? If you understand it merely literally, he does seem to have said something untrue; if you understand it in a spiritual way, what the prophet said did happen. Yes, Nineveh was overthrown. Consider what Nineveh was, and see how it was overthrown.
- What was Nineveh? They were eating and drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, spending time on perjuring themselves, lying, getting drunk, committing crimes, being corrupt. That’s what Nineveh was. Look at Nineveh now: they are mourning, grieving, afflicting themselves in sackcloth and ashes, fasting and prayer. Where is that other Nineveh? It has been overthrown of course, because it is no longer constituted by those previous activities. (Sermon 361, 20).
- There is a certain irony in what Jesus says about “something greater” than Jonah or Solomon: really, he is infinitely greater, but Jesus prefers to tone down the difference between himself and any figure, no matter how important, in the Old Testament.
Dear brethren, let us take advantage of this season of Lent to heed Our Lord’s invitation towards conversion and penance. Like the Ninivites did to Jonah, we must also acknowledge and accept Jesus as the Son of God, and His message of bountiful mercy for all those who consider themselves as sinners in need of His salvation and repent from their evil deeds. God does not spurn a humbled and contrite heart.
A blessed day ahead, Fr. Rolly Arjonillo
VIDEO COMMENTARY
TOPIC: IS IT WRONG TO ASK FOR SIGNS AND MIRACLES FROM GOD?
In today’s gospel reading, big crowds have gathered to witness Jesus’ miracles. Yet they still could not believe that He was the Messiah. They were looking for someone who wielded power, garbed in kingly robes and was followed by thunder and lightning as he descended from heaven. The Jewish leaders were clearly prejudiced against a carpenter from Nazareth, a wandering preacher with a band of commoners as assistants. Jesus refused to give them more signs and miracles.Is it then wrong to seek signs and miracles?
SEE AS WELL:
WEDNESDAY 1ST WEEK LENTEN READING.
CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART (Aphraartes, Bishop) in
https://catholicsstrivingforholiness.org/wednesday-1st-week-lenten-reading-circumcision-of-the-heart/
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