Jonah in the whale's belly Week 4: Thursday Reading Jonah 1.1-4,7-17 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’ But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. The sailors said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, ‘Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?’ ‘I am a Hebrew,’ he replied. ‘I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, ‘What is this that you have done!’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so. Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may quieten down for us?’ For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quieten down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.’ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.’ So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Reflection The Book for Jonah is a very interesting part of the Bible. It tells the intriguing story of a prophet who runs from God only to find himself in the belly of a whale, a quiet place. While Jonah’s three-day retreat inside the “great fish” is referred to in Matthew Chapter 12 by Jesus to explain his own coming death, burial and resurrection, it is Jonah’s anger that is perhaps the most striking feature of the book as a whole. Jonah is sent to the chief city of a colonising power to declare judgement. He holds on to this long-awaited judgement, but at the last moment God grants mercy! Jonah’s anger then turns toward God. How dare God grant mercy when justice is needed? This is too often the dilemma facing peoples who have experienced oppression and persecution. Mercy and justice are hard to balance. Jonah remains trapped in his anger – unwilling to accept that mercy has a place alongside justice. Watch When have you felt most angry against God? ...and pray for a deeper faith to trust God's silence in the face of injustice. Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.
Job on the dung hill Week 4: Wednesday Reading Job 2.1-10 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.’ Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Reflection The Book of Job is one of the oldest within the Hebrew Bible. It is a rich examination of the enduring question of how an all-loving and all-powerful God can allow undeserved suffering. Job finds himself on a dung hill, scraping his putrid sores. All he has and all that he owns has been taken away, violently and suddenly. Most of the book is Job’s deep questioning of why such evil and misfortune has befallen him. To make things worse, heaven is quiet. God does not answer him. Job does not know of the bargain over his life and faith God has made with Satan (whose name means “the accuser”). And when God answers Job, there is no justification given. Black Spirituality has been shaped by experiences of injustice and undeserved suffering affecting whole communities for generation after generation. However, even when heaven is quiet, the faithful still learn to trust the goodness of God. Watch Reflect on how you react when you feel unjustly wronged. ...and pray for the courage to lay these feelings honestly before God. Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.
Elijah on the mountain Week 4: Tuesday Reading 1 Kings 19.1-13 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ Reflection Elijah is the other great prophet who – alongside Moses – makes it into the story of Jesus’ transfiguration, appearing beside Jesus and talking with him. In today’s reading, Elijah is in deep distress. He is on the run from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel having defeated the many other false prophets who were loyal to them. He is afraid for his life, despite the display of divine power he has just witnessed. We learn from him that victory and defeat walk hand-in-hand in our spiritual lives, and that we often need a place to hear God most deeply, most clearly and most powerfully. After climbing the mountain, Elijah finally hears God. Not in the fire, nor the earthquake, nor in the wind, but – after waiting (or “tarrying”) till they have passed – in the most profound quiet. Watch Recall your moments of great triumph, and great defeat. ...and pray for a sense of God's presence in all seasons of your life. Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.
#WatchAndPray Lent reflections - Week 4: Monday Week 4: Quiet This week we consider moments in the lives of the prophets when – even amidst terrible suffering and oppression – they encounter the divine presence. Black Spirituality is ancient, and in many ways can be related to the themes and worldviews of the Hebrew prophets we will encounter this week. Prayer for the Week God of our wilderness and despair, when our chaos is too loud to hear you, lead us to the quiet place. Open the ears of our hearts to hear you in the deepest of ways. Amen. Moses in the wilderness Week 4: Monday Reading Exodus 3.1-12 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’ Reflection Moses is the model upon which all within the prophetic tradition in Scripture is based – even Jesus. We know the general story of Moses, and we place him within the political and economic situation of his time, but we must pay attention to the deep quiet within the text. Moses spends his most powerful moments in the wilderness, or on a mountain top, alone with God. In Exodus 3 he moves beyond the wilderness, and there he encounters God in the presence of a burning bush. At this point Moses is a shameful man, and in many ways someone who is lost and confused. But in this quiet moment, he comes to see what he never had before. He comes to learn the divine name, shared for the first time in Scripture. His path – and the path of God’s people – is changed for ever. Watch When and where have you felt God moving you beyond your comfort zone? ...and pray for the curiosity and courage to seek God outside the ordinary. Copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2024.
