Lenten Exercise #8
Wednesday of the First Week in Lent
Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/021308.shtml
We are told the story of Jonah preaching to Nineveh today - how Jonah's prophecy and instruction turned the Lord's wrath away. All sorts of meaning can be read into that - literal, figurative, metaphorical, etc. But what is interesting to me is the way in which Christ preaches this in the gospel.
"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."
Ominous. In this Lenten season, it is very easy to have a sense of foreboding with this Gospel. What does it mean that the Son of Man is a sign to this generation? He certainly does inspire fasts and the wearing of ashes. He preaches a Gospel that challenges us, one that can comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. It is a destruction of the status quo - a radical change in outlook - loving your enemies, doing good to those who hurt you, and the like. He is preaching a somewhat dire word (even if hopeful). He is "something greater than Jonah."
The people who hear Him, though, remain intransigent. Nineveh listened to Jonah. This generation, to whom Jesus spoke, listened not to Him. Nineveh - a wicked city - was spared by listening to a lesser man. This generation does not listen to God Himself - and for this, the consequences are dire. This speaks to our generation as well. God speaks through the Word in Scripture, through nature, through his preachers, even through those from whom we'd least expect a divine word. God speaks - greater than Jonah - but cannot effect the change. So hardened are the hearts and blocked up the ears of man.
It is a call to repentance. It is a call to prayer. It is a call to be like Nineveh and undertake our penances in Lent for the sake of perfecting ourselves in what matters and for love of God.
The generation that remains stiff necked is doomed. I fear I see it all around. Today, with the events at Northern Illinois University (campus shooting), this week with the events at William and Mary (president resigning, ensuing instability and unrest), and this year with the election and the failing economy and a government that's more concerned about talking about steroids in baseball - a game, I just do not get a good sense about the character of our country. Maybe it's just my perspective or the way in which I have carved up reality, but I have a great sense of foreboding. I feel we are like the evil generation. Not because we are not listening to the word of God to the letter and so we are all doomed - that would place me in the camp of the Westboro Baptist Church, and they should be tested for clinical insanity. Rather, I honestly think, it could be a loss of character - a loss of clear vision for the whole state - and it is NOT simply the Bush administration's fault. There are a lot of people at fault. It may take a fall for this country to regain itself. Nevertheless, this loss of character and lack of appreciation of goodness (and the ultimate end that is God) lead me to think in the words of the oldie: "There's battle lines being drawn; nobody's right if everybody's wrong." I will pray for NIU, for our country, and for you - and in a spirit of Lenten penitence, I urge that we let go of any excesses of human pridefulness, lest we become the evil generation of which Christ speaks.
Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/021308.shtml
We are told the story of Jonah preaching to Nineveh today - how Jonah's prophecy and instruction turned the Lord's wrath away. All sorts of meaning can be read into that - literal, figurative, metaphorical, etc. But what is interesting to me is the way in which Christ preaches this in the gospel.
"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."
Ominous. In this Lenten season, it is very easy to have a sense of foreboding with this Gospel. What does it mean that the Son of Man is a sign to this generation? He certainly does inspire fasts and the wearing of ashes. He preaches a Gospel that challenges us, one that can comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. It is a destruction of the status quo - a radical change in outlook - loving your enemies, doing good to those who hurt you, and the like. He is preaching a somewhat dire word (even if hopeful). He is "something greater than Jonah."
The people who hear Him, though, remain intransigent. Nineveh listened to Jonah. This generation, to whom Jesus spoke, listened not to Him. Nineveh - a wicked city - was spared by listening to a lesser man. This generation does not listen to God Himself - and for this, the consequences are dire. This speaks to our generation as well. God speaks through the Word in Scripture, through nature, through his preachers, even through those from whom we'd least expect a divine word. God speaks - greater than Jonah - but cannot effect the change. So hardened are the hearts and blocked up the ears of man.
It is a call to repentance. It is a call to prayer. It is a call to be like Nineveh and undertake our penances in Lent for the sake of perfecting ourselves in what matters and for love of God.
The generation that remains stiff necked is doomed. I fear I see it all around. Today, with the events at Northern Illinois University (campus shooting), this week with the events at William and Mary (president resigning, ensuing instability and unrest), and this year with the election and the failing economy and a government that's more concerned about talking about steroids in baseball - a game, I just do not get a good sense about the character of our country. Maybe it's just my perspective or the way in which I have carved up reality, but I have a great sense of foreboding. I feel we are like the evil generation. Not because we are not listening to the word of God to the letter and so we are all doomed - that would place me in the camp of the Westboro Baptist Church, and they should be tested for clinical insanity. Rather, I honestly think, it could be a loss of character - a loss of clear vision for the whole state - and it is NOT simply the Bush administration's fault. There are a lot of people at fault. It may take a fall for this country to regain itself. Nevertheless, this loss of character and lack of appreciation of goodness (and the ultimate end that is God) lead me to think in the words of the oldie: "There's battle lines being drawn; nobody's right if everybody's wrong." I will pray for NIU, for our country, and for you - and in a spirit of Lenten penitence, I urge that we let go of any excesses of human pridefulness, lest we become the evil generation of which Christ speaks.