Take 2

“Take 2”

by Brian Flanagan

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sometimes looking at what’s NOT there can give us the best insights. Sherlock Holmes knew this well. In the episode “A Study in Pink” from the modern-day British adaptation, Sherlock solves the case by realizing that there should have been a suitcase present at the crime scene, yet it was missing. By the way, that episode came out in 2010, so the SPOILER ALERT is now void 🙂

In this week’s First Reading, we hear God asking Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh and call them out on their sins. He does as God asks, and when they hear him, they are convicted, they proclaim a fast, and turn back toward God. Seems straightforward enough.

Jonah would probably be happy that First Reading this week starts with chapter 3 of this Old Testament book. Chapters 1 and 2, on the other hand, give us a bit more of his backstory. It turns out that this is the second time God asks Jonah to go to Nineveh.

The first time the Lord asks him to do this, Jonah basically says, “Yeah, when pigs fly” and he goes on a cruise instead. A storm comes and the ship is about to pull a Titanic. Then Jesus calms the storm and the Apostles are amazed. Wait, wrong story. Then Jesus starts walking toward the ship on the water and Peter gets out…wait hold on. Here we go. The skipper wakes up Jonah, and Gilliganus (the first mate) sighs and says, “This is your fault isn’t it?”

Jonah admits to bailing on God, hence the storm, and they decide to throw him overboard. The Lord then sends a big fish to swallow up Jonah, both saving his life and putting him in time-out at the same time. After getting some good prayer time, the fish drops him off on dry land.

Here’s where we pick up with this week’s First Reading – “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” Learning from his mistake – not just for fear of punishment but from contrition and sorrow for his sin – he is quick to answer God’s call this time, and he does as the Lord asks. There’s actually a real beauty in this reading – not only does God give Jonah a second chance, but he doesn’t insist that every time the story is ever told, we have to think about Jonah’s mishap in Chapter 1.

That doesn’t mean we’re taking it out of context, but we can look at a segment of the story and see it for what it is – a man responding to what God is calling him to do without hesitation, and bringing people closer to the Lord through it.

So often we let our own past sins, struggles, failures, mistakes, and embarrassing moments dictate how we view ourselves and our spiritual (and human) potential. We hear that we are all called to be saints, but we often think that’s too high of a call and too tall of an order for God to do in our lives. Yet we aren’t defined by our past, and many men and women throughout the centuries have gone on to become saints not only in spite of their past, but even because of their past and the good that the Lord can bring out of it.

We especially experience this in the sacrament of Confession, where our sins are edited out of the film, and we get to look back at our spiritual highlight reel and thank God for his mercy that we don’t have to be reminded of all the bad parts over and over.

Too often when we think of Jonah, we think of the whale incident, or when we think of Doubting Thomas, we remember his unbelief, or we remember St. Augustine as the saint who had a questionable past. But the real legacy of all of them and for all of us is what God has done in our lives in spite of or even because of our past. Sometimes the greatest sinners make the greatest saints.