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 4th
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.
