Wednesday of the First Week of Lent 2023
"This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
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."
-Luke 11:29-30, 32
For most of us, the name of Jonah calls to mind the well-known story of him spending three days in the belly of a whale. But the story of Jonah is much more complicated that this classic children’s Bible story. The Book of Jonah tells a complex story of call and frustration, obedience and despair. It is ultimately the story of the conversion of a prophet and the people to whom he is sent. Above all else, it is a story of mercy.
As we hear in the First Reading of the Wednesday of the First Week of Lent, the people of the great city of Nineveh were delivered from divine punishment because they took to heart Jonah’s warnings and, fasting and clothed in sackcloth and ashes, they turned from their evil ways. God recognized in their external acts the truth of their interior conversion and God’s response was to forgive, choosing to forgo “the evil that he had threatened to do to them” (3:10).
Icon of The Holy Prophet Jonah carved in steatite by Jonathan Pageau
In the Gospel proclaimed today, Jesus pushes back against critics who demanded signs as proof of Jesus’ authority and divine Sonship. True to form, however, he does not submit and, instead, condemns those who refuse to believe in him and his mission.
These critics suffered from what Pope Francis described in a 2013 reflection as “The Jonah Syndrome.” Rather than embrace the truth of Jesus’ proclamation of the Reign of God and the gift of salvation he offered, they lacked true zeal. These people, Pope Francis remarked, were looking for “a holiness, if I may say, a holiness they can pick up at the dry-cleaners. It is clean and pressed but wholly lacking in the zeal that leads us to preach and proclaim the Lord… The Jonah syndrome afflicts those who trust only in their personal righteousness, in their works.”
Rather than perform for them, Jesus offered a different kind of sign: the sign of Jonah. In fact, he left them completely unsatisfied because what he offered them was, at that time, not even a promise. Who could have imagined that Jesus would be swallowed by death and spend three days hidden from the world before being raised, giving the ultimate proof and vindication that who he was and all that he was about was the truth?
For his critics, his words that day wouldn’t have made any sense. But, for us, who profess faith in the resurrection, the liturgy today invites to remember the fullness of the paschal mystery and feel confident that all that Jesus said and did can be trusted. This also demands that our decisions, attitudes and actions must conform the faith we profess.
“The Sign of Jonah is the mercy of God in Jesus Crucified and Risen for us, for our salvation.”—Pope Francis
In this mid-point of the First Week of Lent, it might be good to pause and ask what have we changed in our lives—or, better yet, what has changed about us—since Ash Wednesday?
Do we hesitate to make the most of this time that has been given to us?
Are we battling our own case of “Jonah syndrome” and trusting in our own virtue and religious habits?
How does the truth of the Resurrection—the sign of Jonah—invite you to go deeper into the mysteries that are at the heart of this Lenten season?
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.
-Collect for Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
