(Jonah 3:1-10; Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19; Luke 11:29-32)
At one point during the movie Galaxy Quest – a loving comedy homage to the Star Trek television series – there is a self-destruct sequence aboard the spaceship. The heroes, attempting to deactivate it, manage to get where they need to go with 20 seconds to spare and push the “cancel” button . . . but the doomsday clock continues counting. Presuming they’ve failed, the heroes make peace with the fact that they’re all about to die in a fiery explosion. Finally, the clock ticks down to one second left, and then the self-destruct sequence terminates. Why? Because, in the logic of a television-action universe, such heroic efforts always need to succeed at the last possible second, even if it doesn’t make any sense in the real world.
I was reminded of this incongruous scene – and its doomsday clock – as I reflected on today’s readings, which all revolve around the story of Jonah delivering word of God’s judgment to the people of Nineveh. In the Gospel selection from Luke, Jesus draws the connection between himself and Jonah, proclaiming about how, at the end times, “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.” (The “something greater” is, obviously, Jesus and his proclamation of the truth.)
In contemplating Christ’s strong words about this “evil generation,” I paid careful attention to the story of Jonah. To summarize:
The city of Nineveh was so wicked that God was going to destroy it; before God did so, He sent Jonah to proclaim this news to its people. In one of the most complete turnabouts in the Bible, the people of Nineveh immediately believe this message to be true, and “they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.”
Even the king of Nineveh believed this, and – in addition to the humans – had the cattle and sheep fast and dress in sackcloth. The king says, “Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath, so that we shall not perish.”
Pay close attention to that “Who knows”; in addition to being an amusing turn of phrase (I can envision him shrugging his shoulders as he says it), it means that he wasn’t necessarily expecting these efforts to work.
But, indeed, God was moved by their efforts and does repent from destroying Nineveh (much to Jonah’s disappointment, as we learn from the rest of the story).
I love the tale of how Nineveh gets their act together, but sometimes I wonder if some people of faith take away the wrong message. Namely, “If I were really messing up, God would give me a sign – or even a direct message – and a chance to repent.” There are two problems with that line of reasoning.
First, Jesus clearly addressed this fact to his audience: “This generation . . . seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” In other words, there wasn’t going to be any greater messenger of God’s admonition than Christ (who himself was invoking the earlier warnings of Jonah). That still applies today; we’re not ever going to see any greater messenger of God calling us back to righteousness than Christ, because Christ is God. Nor are the exhortations of Sacred Scripture one-time events; in the same way that Nineveh repented of their wicked ways, so too are we all called to do the same (especially during this season of Lent).
The second problem with that line of reasoning is that it erroneously considers the nature of sin and its effects on us. We should not be committing as much sin as we possibly can and hoping we escape God’s notice. We should not be doing the bare minimum necessary to get into Heaven. We shouldn’t confuse not being our worst selves with being our best selves.
In other words, we should not be letting our own “doomsday clocks” get as close to one second as we can – as the people of Nineveh did – before we get around to doing something about it. Even if we are clear of grave sins, that doesn’t obviate the need to go to the confessional periodically. Even if our venial sins are forgiven during weekly Mass, that doesn’t give us carte blanche to commit as many venial sins as we want. Even if we are good people, God calls us to try to be better.
The people of Nineveh came to the brink of utter destruction and chose to turn away from God’s judgment. We should rejoice in the mercy of God, and use that as an example of how it’s not too late for anyone! But we should also do everything we can to be better. If the heroes stop the “doomsday clock” with one second left, they are saved; the same is true if they stop it with one minute, one week, or one year. Each of us owes it to ourselves and God to be as good as we can, as soon as we can – and the season of Lent is the perfect time to start.
