FIVE  JONAH  4:  10-11 EXAMPLES

INTRODUCTION

The title of my reflection for this morning is: “Five Jonah 4: 10 - 11 Examples.”

Most people when they hear about Jonah, they only think of the story about him being in the belly of the whale for 3 days.  They miss the whale of an antsy character he can be.

When I read today’s first reading - from the 4^th chapter of the book of Jonah -  I was hit in the brain with the story near the ending of the reading.

Jonah gets really upset.  A gourd plant - or another translation makes it a castor oil plant -  that was giving him shade -  rots because of a worm. That really ticks him off.  He no longer has shade or protection from the sun.

Well, God challenges Jonah  for his mixed up and selfish sense of  life and emotional balance. He gets upset losing his plant - and his shade, but he  doesn’t get upset when he wants God to kill 120,000 people.

We the hearers of the story,  are supposed to hear and to notice the enormous contrast between 1 plant destroyed and 120,000 people possibly killed. Thinking about that,  I asked myself, “Could I  come up with 5 examples of similar  mixed up and out of balance values and ways of seeing life?”

FIRST EXAMPLE: SCRATCHED CAR

A father gets a brand new car. Someone scratches it.  It might even be his son. The father  gets furious. However, the father has no reaction when he hears at supper that his son got beaten up and cut and scratched by a bully  in school that day.

SECOND EXAMPLE: THE MISPRONOUNCED WORD

A reader at Mass - while reading - mispronounces one word in the reading. 

As a result -  that’s all he or she hears. It’s the mistake….

He or she   doesn’t hear the reading. He or she  never really ponders the meanings in the reading.  All they think of is that one word - that was mispronounced and they miss all the 120 other words they pronounce perfectly.

THIRD EXAMPLE: CHEWY, CHEWY BEEF

At supper, for supper, someone takes a piece of meat off the serving platter. They find  the piece they pick to be quite chewy.

During the meal, that person  keeps complaining about the tough chew. They don’t like the gristle of the meat. They make the cook feel dumb about it.

But - but - but -  in 7  years at that dining room table, that person in that community, the complainer - never once said to the cook:  “Thank you for delicious supper. I love the way you did the string beans.”

FOURTH EXAMPLE: THE LETTER WRITER

A letter writer writes a letter to the bishop of the diocese every time they see the visiting priest or any priest changing  one word in the prayers or readings. If it’s not the exact word in the sacramentary book - on the altar,  it’s ink to the bishop. It’s a letter to the bishop about that priest.

However,  the letter writer - at about only one Mass a year  - do they connect with God - praise God for another day of life - or  apologizes for their  sins - only about  once a year.

FIFTH EXAMPLE: WRINKLED RED CAPE

A bishop comes into the sacristy of a church for confirmation. He opens up his small leather vestment suitcase. His red cape is wrinkled.  He gets furious. He might look wrinkled. Tch. Tch. Tch.  Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. What will the people think when they see my wrinkles?

But, but, but, for 12 years as a bishop he never gave one thought about kids who were abused by priests and other bishops.  Tch. Tch.  Tch.  Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.

CONCLUSION

We all heard today’s readings. For homework, let’s find a few examples when we are out of balance and need a value or moral realignment. Let’s ask God to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others when we pray the Our Father. Amen.