I can still see in my mind the picture that accompanied the story of Jonah in my children's bible. It was a lot like the picture to the right. Jonah was in the big fish's mouth crying for help, while the words on the facing page narrated his remarkable escape. As a child, Jonah's story was memorable because there was an animal-and animals were too exciting for the Bible, I thought-but I never could remember why he was in the fish, how he escaped, or what happened after the whale spit him out.

As a teenager, this story became important to me as a story of a person of faith. The prayer of Jonah, coming out of the depths of the fish, reminded me that even in the most difficult of situations, I could call out to God, and God would hear. Early Christians found this powerful too, as the three days that Jonah spent in the whale were a sign of the three days that Christ spent in the tomb. The paintings that decorated their churches reinforced their faith in their own resurrection, which depended on their belief in Christ's resurrection. For them, and for me, Jonah's story was a reminder that God's actions in the past will be true today.

The passage that we heard today, however, has no animals and is not a story about a great person of faith. In Jonah 3:10-4:11, we hear the story of a person who has become angry because great things happened to people he hated. This reading reminds us that the great person of faith, Jonah, was also the reluctant prophet who ran to the sea because he did not want to help the Ninevites. And even after he obeyed, with some prodding from God in the form of a fish, he still could not let go of his hatred. For me, today, this part of Jonah's story appeals to me most, as I often find myself in this part of Jonah's story.

A new picture captures Jonah's story for me now. The large picture of Jonah in the icon below is not much different in many ways than the one I remember from my children's Bible or the one above. But in the bottom right corner, there are two bushes that narrate the story of our reading from Jonah today. The larger one is the one by which God provides Jonah with shade; the smaller is its withered remains after God sent a worm to attack it. When I see this image, I am reminded of Jonah's cycles of hatred and repentance in his story and perhaps beyond it.

Jonah's story should convict us, but also bring us hope. We are very aware of the prejudices that still plague our society and our world. And if we look deep within ourselves, we know that we are not exempt from them. For us, the cross is a reminder of this; it stands as an offense to any notion that we are free from sin. But we come to the altar each Sunday, we confess that there are some people that we don't always hope will be at God's great banquet in heaven, and the cross hangs above as a shade and does not wither. In this meal, we receive the body and blood of our savior in whom we find forgiveness. We are forgiven, and we are also strengthened so that, like Jonah, we may love all people. May our participation in this meal and community transform us into such people.

Contributed by Philip
Sunday September 19, 2010
Liturgical Year C Week 43
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 25 (Proper 20)
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost