Jonah and the People of Nineveh. New Hope in God’s Mercy
Last week ended the period of “Baaotha,” or “the fasting of Jonah or Nineveh”
It is three days of fasting and prayer practiced in Iraq and Egypt, in the Chaldean church, in other churches in Iraq, and in the Coptic church in Egypt. It precedes Lent and begins on the third Monday before it. It is a preparation for penance and conversion.
Jonah
Jonah had been called by God to do a work of mercy, that of admonishing sinners. He did not want to follow this call, ran away, but in a great misfortune he ended up in the “belly of the fish three days and three nights,” probably a whale. He repented and resumed his relationship with God. He went to Nineveh to call the people to conversion, practicing fasting and penance. A practice for everyone, even animals, it is considered a reference for conversion for these peoples.
I don’t know if everyone knows that Nineveh is a large region in Iraq. In the seventh century there was a plague epidemic in that area that was about to destroy the whole people. The Church, through fasting and prayer implored God and after three days the people were saved from the plague. From that time those practices became part of the Christian tradition in Iraq.
But the main significance of this fast, is its connection with the Paschal mystery.
As the crowds thronged, Jesus began to say:
“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to those of Nineveh, so also will the Son of Man be a sign to this generation.” (Mt 11: 29, 30)
Jonah emerging alive from the belly of the whale in which he remained for three days represents Jesus rising again after three days in the tomb.
Christians in these Eastern traditions, thus prepare themselves for participation in this Paschal mystery through the period of fasting and prayer.
For many, the work of mercy “admonishing sinners” still seems heavy and difficult to practice, perhaps out of human respect or indifference or not to lose relationships with people who do wrong.
From Jona’s story we can understand that instead it is a great responsibility to help people see when they are wrong; just be sure that God asks us to do it and that we are driven by love, not by anger or superiority. It takes a lot of humility to be listening to the Holy Spirit, to know the right words at the right time.
If we are in union with God, His presence will make its way into the hearts of our listeners, make us credible, convincing, sincere.
The experience of admonishing sinners, is an experience of death and resurrection, just like that of Jonah and that of the people of Nineveh. An experience that opens us to the new and true hope lived and practiced that points to a better state, to being in God by helping our brother to convert and return to Him by receiving fraternal correction. A new life for all, in God.
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- Image digitally created by spazio + spadoni