Jonah must be one of the best known characters in the Bible, up there with Noah and his ark, recognized by pretty much everyone regardless of their religious background or lack of it. I think we have to admit that Jonah’s fame is more due to the whale than anything he himself brought to the story. But it is a story worth knowing in a bit more detail (and since it’s one of the shortest books in the Bible it’s not a big stretch).
Today’s account tells us of the second time the Lord called to Jonah, after he’s been brought back by the whale and spat out on the beach. Jonah was smart enough to realize that running off in the opposite direction, as he tried the first time, was not a good strategy – so he goes ahead and sets off for Nineveh as the Lord told him to.
He must have been an effective prophet because the people of Nineveh quickly took his words to heart and did indeed repent. But the kicker to the story is found in the next (and final) chapter. Rather than be pleased by what he has accomplished, Jonah is furious with God for having let the people off. He tells God that this is why he didn’t want to get involved in the first place, since he thought that God might go all soft and forgive the people, rather than blasting them, as Jonah presumably thought they deserved. So he goes off to the other side of town and sulks.
God tries to get Jonah to understand by way of an incident with a plant that shades Jonah, but Jonah gets all riled up again. You can follow the rest of the story for yourself if you’re interested… The point I wanted to note today was that even when Jonah does what God asks him to, he is clearly not on the same wavelength.
Paul in writing to the church he founded in Corinth is also not quite on God’s wavelength. At this early time soon after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul (in common with most others, we imagine) thought that Jesus was going to return very soon (the “Second Coming”). He was mistaken in this (as we know with the power of hindsight!) and his teaching evolved to recognize this fact as time went by.
In today’s Gospel we have Mark’s account of Jesus gathering his first disciples. At this point I’m sure they were all full of enthusiasm for the new cause and the new leader they had found (or who had found them). We also know that they too often failed to get on the same wavelength as Jesus, and Jesus had to be quite “firm” with them – notably with Simon-Peter (“get behind me Satan”!), but also James and John (“no I’m not going to guarantee where you sit in heaven…”).
As we see in all these cases being called, and accepting the call (willingly or not), does not mean we are always going to get things right. In fact we can be pretty sure that if everyone from Jonah to Paul to Peter, James and John got things wrong, then we will too. So we choose to follow, and we try to follow the direction Jesus and the Father set out for us – but we should always remain open to the possibility that we have got it wrong, and be prepared to listen for the correction that God holds out for us, as he did for Jonah and the others.