The Sign Of Jonah | October 12, 2015

 October 12, 2015

A hardened heart affects your hearing more than anything else I think. A hard heart infers that it has gone cold from lack of use. Sometimes keeping our hearts warm and supple hurts because we make ourselves vulnerable to getting wounded, we put ourselves out there to be rejected, and a lot of time we will not be loved in return. However, the alternative has consequences that are grave. Cold heartedness is a defense or coping mechanism that many people turn to when they have experienced emotional pain. We have all been tempted to cut off from friends and family when things get hard to preserve our own emotional sanity. Raise your hand if you have ever hung up the phone on a difficult conversation or walked out of the room during an ugly argument. I get it and I, unfortunately, raised my own hand to all of the above. There have been times in my life when I built a great big wall around my heart to protect it from pain, but all it really did was shield it from receiving the warmth of being loved and without warmth, my heart went cold.

When I approach delicate situations with a hard heart, I am not capable of hearing both sides properly. A cold heart muffles my hearing and clouds my eyes from seeing things as they truly are. An active heart pours itself out as a verb to warm other’s hearts and a stagnate hearts lies in wait for others to activate it, however, the hard shell deflects all attempts and the muscle becomes stiff and lazy. Once a heart is hard, there is a lot of work to be done to soften it and in the softening there will be more pain. Sometimes intensity will melt the heart (like hitting rock bottom) and sometimes a sledgehammer might be required to break down the wall. All in all a soft heart helps us see the true essence of matters, it gives us the ears to hear from a place of active love, and a hard heart can only hear it’s own pain.

Jesus knew that the Pharisee’s hearts were hard. After all that he has said and done, performing miracles, healing people, driving out demons, feeding people, teaching with incredible parables, preaching in the temple, etc. they were still looking for a another sign. Jesus knew that this was coming from their own pain and that he could only do one ultimate act of love to open the eyes of their heart (hopefully). The Sign of Jonah refers to the story of Jonah fleeing from Nineveh to avoid what God had asked him to do. He took a boat and found himself overboard to be consumed in the belly of a whale for three days (My favorite Jonah version is the Veggie Tales movie: Jonah. LOL). The big fish hauled Jonah’s butt back to the shore of Nineveh and vomited him out! I love it! God is so dramatic and funny sometimes!!! Of course the three days represent the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus as a sign that God is in charge and that he loves us desperately. The Sign of Jonah is “The Sign” that the cold hearted Pharisees are looking for but Jesus is the efficacious manifestation, making him not just a “sign” but actually and truly the savior the world. Jesus knew that his time on earth was coming to a close. He had done everything that he could to warm the cold hearts of the people and the next step would be to live out the ultimate sign that they were asking for. Unfortunately, some of them still didn’t get it even after The Sign, and God had to send the Holy Spirit in to really massage the heck out of the stone cold hearts of many.

What we need to know is that God is in hot pursuit of us and will never stop chasing us. Surrendering early to his pursuit is in our best interest, but first we need to work on keeping our hearts open and supple to receive his love. Let’s pray today for soft hearts. Let’s pray today for those people in our lives that have allowed their hearts to become hard. Let’s pray today that our eyes and ears will be open to the one true Sign of God’s love: Jesus Christ. I’m tired of hanging up and I am tired of running out of the room. Let’s just sit down, eyelash to eyelash and love each other well.

Reading 1 ROM 1:1-7

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,
called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God,
which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
the Gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, 
but established as Son of God in power 
according to the Spirit of holiness 
through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, 
to bring about the obedience of faith,
for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,
among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ;
to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father 
and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Responsorial Psalm PS 98:1BCDE, 2-3AB, 3CD-4

R. (2a) The Lord has made known his salvation.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has made known his salvation.

Alleluia PS 95:8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 11:29-32

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment 
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon, 
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation 
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”