Forgiveness

461.doc

Scripture: Lectionary # 461: Jonah 1:1-2:1.11. Jonah 2:2-3.3.4.5.8. Luke 10:25-37:

Both Jewish and Christian biblical commentaries agree on the following statements about Jonah. It is primarily a narrative about this imaginary person named Jonah and more satirical and humorous than the other prophetic books among the Twelve Prophets. One of the local Judaic scholars mentioned it as a challenge to the Israelites to be open to other peoples without, of course, accepting their particular beliefs. It was hotly discussed for its historicity about forty years ago, but scholarship today realizes that the writer of this book is not creating a prophetic work as such which would have more oracles within it. One can see the humor in the pouting of Jonah in the last chapter. But the biggest joke on Jonah is that he becomes in this creative narrative the prophet with the most success which causes him to be very despondent about the conversion of the people of Nineveh. Maybe he would have been different had he heard what Jesus said, “He who is not against us is for us. So do not do them any harm as he hinted to his apostles.

Jonah is somewhat like the two sons who say no to their father and then one of them reluctantly changes his mind and says yes. Jonah cannot escape the plan of God nor does he comprehend the great mercy of God shown toward people who are different from his own.

It is a lesson in forgiveness. This dimension of each human person is hard to come by. Some people never forget nor forgive and they remain bitter all their lives not getting beyond their personal hurt. Forgiveness is an attitude and graced gift of God that resides in our hearts and cleanses our memories of trying to get even or taking revenge on the one who has offended us.

The Gospel lesson in Luke has us returning to the commandment of love of God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Here is where forgiveness lies. The commandment of love of God is seen in the way we love each other whether friend or foe. This is a call of grace and also of revelation in both testaments. Christians need to see the Bible as a whole and not separate the lessons of the Old Testament from those of the New. There is no God of anger, wrath, etc. as we sometimes here Christians saying about the Old Testament. The cultural dimension of the writers always is present and the message of God is beyond what a literal understanding of the Bible leads us to think about books like Jonah or other books where crushing the enemy is mentioned. To probe the depth of the Scriptures more than literalism is necessary. Both Jewish Mysticism and the Medieval Christian interpretation of the Scriptures searched for the deeper spiritual meaning through four different ways of reading the texts: literal, allegorical, moral, and analogical or mystical reading takes place in the heart and is not pure study of texts nor fundamentalism.

Forgiveness is a grace that overcomes our hardness of heart. We should never carry our bad experiences of the past into making us bitter. As we age with wisdom the heart needs to be opened to the graces of forgiving and forgetting. Amen.