Speaking the truth

The Sign of Jonah is the subject of the texts from the RomanCatholic Lectionary today. The Book of the Prophet Jonah is described by Friar Jude Winkler as more of a parable than prophesy. Jonah is called by God to prophesy to the people of Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire who had occupied the land of the northern tribes of Israel. Friar Jude comments that the reluctance of Jonah to help the enemy was based on his desire for revenge. Kelly Tadeo Orbik of Creighton University reflects on the difficulty of living the prophet part of our Baptismal mission. We would like to see those who hurt or reject us “get your just deserts”. The other difficulty with being the prophet is the challenge of speaking the truth. Speaking truth to power has been very costly to the modern prophets cited by Kelly Tadeo Orbik. Jesus speaks to the people who demand a sign of the Presence of God in the passage from the Gospel of Luke. He cites the signs of Jonah and the Queen of Sheba. This episode also appears in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 12:38-40), where the difference in the text indicates that Matthew was using the story of Jonah three days in the belly of a whale to point to Jesus three days in the Tomb. Friar Jude uses the example of Jonah (and the Queen of Sheba) being outsiders as a sign to the questioners in Jesus time and to us that the messages of God come to us from all and even unexpected sources. Theses sources may be outside our orthodoxy. God is love of all. We must expect that the Word for our transformation may come from unexpected people at unusual and inconvenient times.