“Be Merciful as God is Merciful” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“Be Merciful as God is Merciful” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry that God did not carry out the evil he threatened against Nineveh. (Jonah 4:1)

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for to you I call all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. (Psalm 86:3-4)

… and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us. (Luke 11:4ab)

Piety

Lord, help us to be forgiving and compassionate toward others as you are toward us.

Study

Jonah is quite obviously having an off day. He sounds like a 3-year old, stamping his feet and raging at God, because God has chosen to be merciful to the Ninevites, who, granted, have always been the enemies of the people of Israel.  Evidently, Jonah would prefer a lot of fire and brimstone to rain down on the city.

If we’re honest with ourselves, isn’t this the way you and I act sometimes when we think someone we have a grievance against is getting off too easily?  Jonah, in effect, says, "Lord, this is exactly what I was afraid would happen when you sent me to Nineveh. I was worried you would go all soft and compassionate on these enemies of ours."

God doesn’t go head to head with Jonah. Instead, God causes a plant to grow up which provides Jonah with shelter from the hot sun. Jonah loves his shady space for 24 hours, at which point the plant is suddenly attacked by a worm, dries up and dies. And again, we see Jonah indulging in a temper tantrum.

God tries to reason with Jonah: Here’s a plant over which you have no power. You didn’t even put it on the earth. Yet look what a stew you’re getting into over it! I, on the other hand, did create all the people in Nineveh, and there are more than 120,000 of my creatures there who don’t know which end is up. I put them there, and I have every right to show compassion and mercy where I will. You will never be me, but it wouldn’t hurt you to act like me!

Jesus makes the same point in today’s Gospel when he teaches the disciples to pray. It’s difficult to say with any sincerity the words, “forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us.” Before we utter those words in prayer, we often need to stop and think about their veracity.

Action

Jesus knew just what he was doing in teaching the disciples to say those words. So often we need to stop and make amends before we can truthfully say we forgive others who have trespassed against us. When you are praying today, visualize someone who has hurt you in some way and make a point of forgiving him or her before the sun goes down.