Every day of Lent, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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I enjoy reading the Book of Jonah. It is such a great tale, and it is an easy and quick read. Today, in our First Reading, we find that “the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time.” If you know the tale of Jonah, you will remember that when the word of the LORD came to Jonah the first time, God said, “Go and preach to the Ninevites.” Jonah ran away from God’s word, and he did not go to Nineveh. He boarded a ship for somewhere else. It was during his “escape” from God that he was thrown overboard from the ship and swallowed by the whale-sized fish. Now, after three days that fish spit him up on the shore again. And, now for the second time, the word of the LORD came to Jonah and said, “Go and preach to the Ninevites!”
Why does it take us so long to act on God’s Word? In fact, why do we sometimes run away from it?
For Jonah, he simply didn’t want to go to Nineveh. He didn’t want their conversion. He wanted God to punish them. So, he fled in the opposite direction.
When we hear God tell us to love someone that we find difficult, we sometimes run in the opposite direction. When we hear God tell us to take care of the poor and the people living in the shadows of our society, we sometimes run in the opposite direction. When we hear God tell us to accept his love, confess our sins, and be healed, we sometimes run in the opposite direction.
Here’s the point. God gives us a second chance, just like he did for Jonah. And even greater, he gives us a third, fourth, fifth and even more chances. God wants us to listen to him, and he will keep calling out to us until we do.