Jonah 2; Psalm 118; Matthew 20
“Give thanks to the Lord. For He is good; His mercy endures forever.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Today’s reading offers some interesting perspectives on ‘thanksgiving.’ The Psalmist sums it up for us; “Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good; His mercy endures forever.” No doubt on this day many of us will be offering thanks for the many blessings of our lives. Some have much and some of those may attribute those blessings to God’s favor. [Remember the rich young man in yesterday’s readings?] Those with the least will also be praying, perhaps more than many of us, in thanksgiving for what they have.
Today’s readings, however, draw us much deeper than our thanks for worldly possessions or fortunate living conditions. Today we have the Story of Jonah and the Parable of “the workers in the vineyard,” or as Daniel Harrington suggests in his commentary on Matthew, “The Parable of the Good Employer.” Both are stories of God’s Justice and Mercy. “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever.”
In Jonah’s case he has been directed by God to a task, a task he doesn’t believe in. Jonah is not simply weighing the possibilities of his own success over the potential of his own failure but rather is having an internal conflict with the nature of God. “Why,” Jonah asks himself, “should God send a prophet to Nineveh to ‘Cry out against it?’ Why should God’s Justice be delayed? Certainly God knows the sinfulness of the city of Nineveh and how it has mistreated Israel! They are sinners and sinners deserve God’s Justice and wrath – not God’s mercy!”
So Jonah takes matters into his own hands and sets out away from God’s Presence in the opposite direction from Nineveh – “going down” to Joppa to set sail for Tarshish – a land far away. As Jonah moves away from God’s Presence or service, he is “Going down” spiritually. But now Jonah finds himself in a predicament! He has forgotten the words of another Psalmist; “Where can I go from your spirit and where can I flee from your presence?” [Psalm 139:7]. Jonah is not able to flee from God’s Presence and now his internal struggle regarding God’s Justice toward Nineveh has turned on himself. Disobeying God’s command calls for God’s justice and wrath to be invoked against Jonah and he readily recognizes the justice of the storm against him and the poor sailors. Accepting God’s Justice he tells the sailors to throw him into the sea.
So, as we ended yesterday’s reading of Jonah, he has “justly” been thrown into the sea for his disobedience to God. But today from the deep recesses of the belly of the fish in the blackened ocean depths, Jonah prays. Chapter 2 of Jonah is his prayer of Thanksgiving. God’s Mercy has been granted to the ship’s crew and especially to Jonah. Saving sinners trumps God’s justice. “Give Thanks to the Lord for he is Good; His mercy endures forever.”
We see this same theme played out in the Parable of the Good Employer in Matthew’s Gospel. Those who come to the working field later get the same pay as those who arrived earlier. When the master is chided by those who worked longer he says, “Friend, I did you no injustice.” The master reserves the right to do with his own as he wishes. This parable is similar to Jonah in that it would be the Jewish component in Matthew’s Community [assuming the Jonah role] asking if there was not to be special consideration of those Jewish Christians over these new gentile converts coming to the faith in the latter days.
Often, we attempt like Jonah and the early arriving workers, to determine God’s balance of Justice and mercy. What must be clear, is that God handles these decision without our help or influence as evidenced in these two stories. Most important on this Thanksgiving Day is the mercy God shows to each and every one of us! No matter how late the hour, God is present to hear our prayers for God’s mercy; whether it be after decades of doing evil as in the case of Nineveh, or arriving in the vineyard at the eleventh hour.
“Give thanks to the Lord. For He is good; His mercy endures forever.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tom Bruttell +
Archdeacon, Diocese of Southeast Florida
“Give thanks to the Lord. For He is good; His mercy endures forever.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Today’s reading offers some interesting perspectives on ‘thanksgiving.’ The Psalmist sums it up for us; “Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good; His mercy endures forever.” No doubt on this day many of us will be offering thanks for the many blessings of our lives. Some have much and some of those may attribute those blessings to God’s favor. [Remember the rich young man in yesterday’s readings?] Those with the least will also be praying, perhaps more than many of us, in thanksgiving for what they have.
Today’s readings, however, draw us much deeper than our thanks for worldly possessions or fortunate living conditions. Today we have the Story of Jonah and the Parable of “the workers in the vineyard,” or as Daniel Harrington suggests in his commentary on Matthew, “The Parable of the Good Employer.” Both are stories of God’s Justice and Mercy. “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever.”
In Jonah’s case he has been directed by God to a task, a task he doesn’t believe in. Jonah is not simply weighing the possibilities of his own success over the potential of his own failure but rather is having an internal conflict with the nature of God. “Why,” Jonah asks himself, “should God send a prophet to Nineveh to ‘Cry out against it?’ Why should God’s Justice be delayed? Certainly God knows the sinfulness of the city of Nineveh and how it has mistreated Israel! They are sinners and sinners deserve God’s Justice and wrath – not God’s mercy!”
So Jonah takes matters into his own hands and sets out away from God’s Presence in the opposite direction from Nineveh – “going down” to Joppa to set sail for Tarshish – a land far away. As Jonah moves away from God’s Presence or service, he is “Going down” spiritually. But now Jonah finds himself in a predicament! He has forgotten the words of another Psalmist; “Where can I go from your spirit and where can I flee from your presence?” [Psalm 139:7]. Jonah is not able to flee from God’s Presence and now his internal struggle regarding God’s Justice toward Nineveh has turned on himself. Disobeying God’s command calls for God’s justice and wrath to be invoked against Jonah and he readily recognizes the justice of the storm against him and the poor sailors. Accepting God’s Justice he tells the sailors to throw him into the sea.
So, as we ended yesterday’s reading of Jonah, he has “justly” been thrown into the sea for his disobedience to God. But today from the deep recesses of the belly of the fish in the blackened ocean depths, Jonah prays. Chapter 2 of Jonah is his prayer of Thanksgiving. God’s Mercy has been granted to the ship’s crew and especially to Jonah. Saving sinners trumps God’s justice. “Give Thanks to the Lord for he is Good; His mercy endures forever.”
We see this same theme played out in the Parable of the Good Employer in Matthew’s Gospel. Those who come to the working field later get the same pay as those who arrived earlier. When the master is chided by those who worked longer he says, “Friend, I did you no injustice.” The master reserves the right to do with his own as he wishes. This parable is similar to Jonah in that it would be the Jewish component in Matthew’s Community [assuming the Jonah role] asking if there was not to be special consideration of those Jewish Christians over these new gentile converts coming to the faith in the latter days.
Often, we attempt like Jonah and the early arriving workers, to determine God’s balance of Justice and mercy. What must be clear, is that God handles these decision without our help or influence as evidenced in these two stories. Most important on this Thanksgiving Day is the mercy God shows to each and every one of us! No matter how late the hour, God is present to hear our prayers for God’s mercy; whether it be after decades of doing evil as in the case of Nineveh, or arriving in the vineyard at the eleventh hour.
“Give thanks to the Lord. For He is good; His mercy endures forever.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tom Bruttell +
Archdeacon, Diocese of Southeast Florida
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