Friday, March 21—Day 17

Jonah & Christ: Out of the Depths
Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand. But there is forgiveness with You, You may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord. More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel From all his iniquities.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;  for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Psalm 130 & Matthew 12:38-41

The Sign of Jonah
We encounter waiting daily. We wait for a child to get ready for school. We wait in traffic, sometimes not so patiently. We wait for loved ones to come out of surgery. We wait for a boring class to end. We wait with friends for a favorite band to come on stage. We wait.

Depending on the type of waiting, it might be fair to say that none of us really relishes waiting. Even when awaiting a joyous occasion, we experience impatience. Often, the long awaited day doesn’t come fast enough. At times, even anticipating a “dream-come-true” moment can be tenuous. In the ups and downs of life, encountering the harder-to-wait experiences is inevitable. Jonah and Christ’s waiting stories can suggest how we might consider waiting during difficult times.

The shape of our waiting takes many forms. I can’t help but wonder if the act of our waiting might in any way be integral to the portion of our faith and trust in God?

Some circumstances of waiting grow extra prayer-muscles in us. Waiting at the doctor’s office, waiting for test results, waiting for acceptance letters — all are done in anticipation of good news. Even when our lips pray, “Lord, help me be anxious for nothing,” our hearts still beat a little faster as we await the arrival of good news or coping strength for bad news.

I wonder how Jonah waited three days in the dark, wet, and smelly belly of a whale while sloshing around hitting partially digested stomach contents? I wonder what Christ’s three-day wait in the earth was like during his deliverance of the departed in Sheol/Hades?  I know these “into the depths” experiences were life changing for those that Jonah and Christ ministered to. 

How shall we wait for Easter? Is our contemplative waiting during Lent active or passive; anxious or surrendered; hope-filled or a numbing denial of pain endured? I wait in anticipation of hope that delivers, redeems, and brings great peace, joy, and calm. It is more than simply waiting for deliverance. It is a nuanced waiting that one can improve on with practice. As I wait in hope, I fine-tune my focus regarding the pain of others including Christ’s ultimate pain endured for our benefit. In so doing, I learn as Jonah did, how to turn anger into compassion and anxiety into trust. 

Prayer
With desperate cries
I beckoned the Eternal to hear, and He answered me.
From the belly, the place of death, I cried out to You,
and You have responded to my voice.
You threw me into the watery depths
and cast me into the middle of the chaotic seas.
The waters closed in around me;
Your waves broke over me;
Your surf swelled as I sank into the depths.
But then I said to You,
“I have been driven out from before Your very eyes.
Still, I know I will gaze again on Your holy temple.
The waters swallowed me;
the deep abyss was covering over me.
Seaweeds were wrapped around my head, trapping me
as I sank down to where the mountains are rooted to the earth.
I went down to the place where death’s gate would lock me in forever.
Yet You lifted me up from the pit.
Eternal One, You are my God!
Only as my life was fading away
did I remember the Eternal;
To Your sacred dwelling, Your holy temple,
my cries did rise to You.
Those who worship worthless idols
turn their backs on God and renounce their loyal love.
But I will sing to You and sacrifice to You
with a voice filled with thanksgiving;
Whatever I promised, I will certainly pay it
because deliverance is from the Eternal alone.
(Jonah’s Prayer from The Voice Bible)

Mary Kay Park, Cook School of Intercultural Studies