The story of Jonah reminds us of the Scriptural origin of Lent, the forty days of Penance. The story is very familiar to many of us. The forty days is a time of purification, a time when our closest association with God makes us more worthy of Him and brings us spiritual growth. Jonah preached repentance with a message from God. “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown”. Jonah as a prophet and God as a sender, the Ninevites responded well to the message of God and a decree came out that that “human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands”.
In the Gospel Jesus praises the Ninevites, for listening to the prophet Jonah because they made use of the forty days which God gave them to repent and save their sinful city. But He rebukes the lack of faith in his own people, who refuse to follow the example of the Ninevites.
Forty days is a sacred tradition in Holy Scripture. The Lord asked Moses to come up to Him on the mountain to prepare himself to receive the ten Commandments. Moses stayed on the mountain in the company of the Lord for forty days. In the same way Elijah, escaping a threat to his life by the Queen Jezebel, stayed forty days on Mount Horeb/Sinai.
After His baptism, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness where He fasted and prayed for forty days. The forty days that God has given us the three pillars of Lent – prayer, fasting, almsgiving for repentance is sacred and precious and full of meaning. Like the Ninevites we are invited to thank God for giving us this precious time to reconnect more with God, loving Him dearly and serving Him through our sisters and brothers. Forty days of Lent is a chance to spend time with God and come personally close to Him as Moses and Elijah did.
May we be transfigured, changed and renewed this season of Lent so that we may converse with God always as personal friends. Blessings. Fr. Mussie