Public Reading of Jonah 3: 1-10
With the advent of the season of Lent,
Christians globally have been busy preparing for the season. Fasting has been
the buzz word this season of forty days, for people have been seeking various
reasons to justify their fasting. Fasting has become trendy these days, for
some give up a meal during the day, some give up eating meat, some give up drinking
alcohol, some have proclaimed fasting on social media, some have given up
Facebook, some have given up whatsapp and the list goes on. These trendy
fasting, people say are part of a spiritual discipline, for at least, they can
work out on de-addictions on their addicted habits. Whatever be the reasons,
Fasting in the season of Lent has been a key element, which has been practiced from
times immemorial continues to find an important place in the lives of the
faithful.
Unfortunately, fasting remains to be a
self-centric element in the lives of Christians, and has not permeated towards
the cause of transforming the society. Fasting is not merely an act of
self-piety rather has a public theological relevance, for it is intended to bring
justice in the society. ‘Fast unto Justice’ is a rendering in that line which
has had its deep Biblical and theological moorings. Duetero- Isaiah is very succinct
on such an understanding of fasting, for in Isaiah 58: 1-12, he reminds the
people the kind of fasting that is acceptable in the sight of God. This season
of Lent, let us resonate with Isaiah and imbibe ‘fast unto justice’ as an act
of our spiritual calling and strive towards justice through our fasting.
Liturgy as a Public Act:
Ronald Theimann’s important contribution to public
theology is linking liturgy as public
responsibility, which has a great relevance in public theological enterprise. In
his book, ‘Constructing a Public Theology: The Church in a Pluralistic Culture’,
he explains that, “the etymology of the word liturgy, which is leitourgia,
is a Greek noun meaning, “the discharge of public office.” In the context of
Greek polis, leitourgia involved
engaging in public office at one’s own expense, thereby offering service to the
state and so contribute to the well-being of the community or koinonia. The language adopted by the
early Christian community for its own worship life was clearly and explicitly
public or political language…The righteousness of faith must result in
transformative justice within the public realm. Thus Christian worship is
essentially political, and the leitourgia
of the Church extends naturally and directly into political action.”[1]
Liturgy has been mostly limited to the worship done in
the Church, and has not really taken political meaning out of it. By making
public theology liturgical, public theology’s political characteristic is
revealed and calls on the Christian communities to relocate their worship
practices beyond their worshipping structures into the public sphere. A public
political act of spirituality is envisaged by the Church, for only then her
public witness is felt and impacted.
Therefore, the need and relevance of fasting becoming
a public act aimed towards bringing justice and transformation to our society is
imperative and instructive for our spirituality. One should also realise that
there is no command for Christians in New Testament to fast, however Jesus did
comment on fasting, where he emphasised not on any “show-off” or for boasting
on self-pride and on self-righteousness, but said that it should be an act
between an individual and God (Mathew 6: 16-18). That relationship between God
and an individual should be reflected in acts of justice in our contexts.
In light of the discussion that Fasting as an
act of public theological witness, the experience of prophet Jonah and his
community’s fasting is of great relevance for us today, specially during this
season of Lent. Allow me to present to you a public reading on Jonah, a prophet
from the margins, and try to capture fasting from his community.
Jonah: Prophet from the Margins
Prophet Jonah is a minor prophet in the
prophetic literature, and the story of Jonah has been one of the most favorite
stories of all children for the involvement of fish in the story resonating
with the modern fictional stories. Jonah as a book in the canon is independent
of the historical settings of the Israel, and has therefore been related to
several contexts. The book of Jonah begins with the title, ‘Jonah’s
disobedience’ for he flees to Tarshish, when he was called to go to Nineveh. He
has been branded by those in the centers as the disobedient person. No one has
ever asked what could have been the reasons why he had to flee away to
Tarshish? Probably, he wasn’t yet ready to proclaim the judgment about the
wickedness of the city, when there has been lots of wickedness within his own
contexts. He wasn’t willing to be a missionary in a foreign land, allowing a
prophet to arise out of the Ninevehian context, however conditions demanded
that he had to at the end, land up as a migrant missionary in Nineveh. He was
called as ‘reluctant one,’ ‘a lazy sleeping guy’ when there was a greater
storm, he was a ‘run away missionary’, the ‘main culprit for the raging storm’
and therefore had to be thrown away into the sea. The only human being in the
history of human kind, who had to live in the belly of a fish for three days,
spending time in prayer and confession, and most times he is viewed as a
superman who spent three days to be alive.
Jonah is a Prophet from margins, marginalized
by the writers of the canon for not weaving his experience into the very fabric
of the life and witness of the people of the OT. He is further pushed into
margins, for his disobedient attitude to the word of God, for fleeing to a
different destiny, for falling asleep when there is a raging storm, and for
allowing a vicarious throwing into the sea. When there would have been total
disappointment and hostility from ‘God’, from the co-passengers for
trespassing, for sleeping without a concern, for being the sole reason of the
raging storm etc. Jonah would have been totally looked down by the corridors of
canonical writers, by the co-passengers and even by the people of Nineveh, who
would have seen him as an alien after being vomited by the fish on their
shores. What can you expect from such a person like Jonah? Out of his margins,
God chose Jonah to deliver God’s people by speaking God’s justice at difficult
moments of history. Jonah, emerges as a
political missionary who proclaims the gospel of repentance, as a mission from
the margins to those in the centers.
It was a day of fasting at the city of
Nineveh. After the miraculous save of Jonah through the belly of a fish, Jonah
finally arrived in the city of his destination, Nineveh to proclaim the
prophecy of God. At prophet Jonah’s call, the entire city from the king to the
citizens to the animals joined the fast and put on sackcloth seeking repentance
from God for their wicked deeds. The cry of Jonah, as recorded in Jonah 3, “Forty
days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” put the city to test and
gathered the political attention, for His Highness the King of Nineveh took the
lead and made it a public policy in calling for a fast with his royal
proclamation. The call for the fast included turning away from the evil ways
and from the violence that is in their hands, besides putting on the sackcloth
and ashes. The call for fast on that day put God in a fix to change God’s plan
for the sake of the life for that city. From the clashes of conflicts,
the city went into fasting and ashes, and out of ashes, the city
came out into a splash of liberation and life.
- Fasting Challenged the Polis (5 V)
As Jonah proclaimed the prophecy of God, the
people of Nineveh believed God, and sought God’s help through a very
democratic, political and spiritual way of fasting. This idea of fasting
emerged from among the people of the city. The fast they proclaimed was
communitarian and for the need of their city. Their fast was not for a selfish
need or for an individuals need or for an exhibition of their piety. Their fast
was a political necessity, for it challenged the whole of the city. As the fast
was proclaimed, everyone in the city without any objections or reservations or
concessions observed their fast by putting on their sackcloth and ashes. Great and
small in the city, man and women in the city, child and adult in the city, the
sinning and the sinned-against in the city, powerful and powerless in the city,
irrespective of their lines of divisions and identities, the city came out to
the open for a fast in support of their city. When the whole city got together
to fast, both the sinned and the sinned against joining the fast meant
repentance with regard to the sinned and an indication from the sinned-against
that time is ripe for reconciliation. This fasting, which included everyone and
in which no one was excluded, displayed the true spirit of fasting. It was this
fast that challenged the city.
- Fasting Challenged the Polity (6-9 Vs)
With the impending peril at hand, when a fast
was proclaimed by the city, the royal power at the city, who represents the
polity, furthered the fast. The fast for the city was a mandate that emerged
from the people and for the people, and therefore His Royal Highness was
challenged to endorse it and made it a public policy for the good of the city.
The king with all his power consciousness could have easily downplayed and
rejected the idea of fasting, for as kings they only know to feast and they
cared least if the city would go into a doom. The king was challenged by this fasting,
and therefore at the peoples call for fast, he had to rise from his royal
throne, had to remove his royal robes and had to cover him with sackcloth and
had to sit in ashes. The spirituality of this fast was such, that it demanded
the powerful to give up their power costumes, attires, attitudes and masks, and
calls for a wholesome solidarity with the powerless and weak symbolized through
ashes, the waste product that comes after the consumption of energy. The fast
for the city challenged the king to issue a public decree calling everyone in
the city to restrain from food and feed and be in solidarity for the cause by
putting on the sackcloth and ashes. The royal public decree calls everyone in
the city to turn their evil practices, practices of discrimination and
oppression and to turn away from violence that was in their hands. The king
also felt, such a fasting that comes from the community may also challenge God.
- Fasting Challenged the Prophecy (10V)
The king, who was challenged by the
communitarian fasting, felt that even the prophecy from God could be challenged
of such fasting by people attempted for a change in the city, and may change
God’s plans for the sake of promoting life. As was foreseen, the fasting
challenged the polity and eventually challenged the prophecy of God according
to the writer of this book. The prophecy from prophet Jonah that ‘forty days
from now, Nineveh shall be overthrown’ was challenged because the fasting was
for the sake of community and not for an individual need. The prophecy was
challenged for the barriers of power, for the powerful gave up their power and
joined the common, and the community encouraged each other along with the
creation to save their city. The prophecy was challenged that the residue ashes
became the common binding and bonding symbol in the city, which reveals their
deepest concern for righteousness. The prophecy was challenged for both the
oppressors in the city and the oppressed in the city joined together to fast,
where the oppressor sought repentance from God and the oppressed and oppressed
could see justice being enforced in the land. This fasting challenged the
prophecy of God, for it was political in nature, for the fast focused on ‘save
the city’. This fasting was for the common good of the people and the community
in the city, and it has shown the city’s belief in God and in their spiritual
quest for God’s intervention. On all these counts, this fasting by the city of
Nineveh challenged the prophecy of God and challenged God, for according to the
understanding of the writer of the book of Jonah, the city did not perish as
was willed by God earlier.
Jonah’s Mission from Margins in the book of Jonah is the recognition of
the fact that
- God is concerned about unrighteousness as disastrous for creation.
- God’s concern of impending danger as proclaimed by the prophet can bring people and powers together for common good, which directs the mission as lobbying.
- The righteous could feel excluded in this process of reconciliation like Jonah, and such people need to include themselves in God’s act of reconciling all.
As churches, we are called to prophecy,
reconcile and heal our situations of wickedness and bring in transformation to
our localities and societies. The polis, the polity and the prophecy were
thoroughly challenged by the fasting of the people in Nineveh, which brought in
a change within and around them. Out of clashes they went into ashes, and out
of ashes they came out splashing life and change.
During this season of Lent, when many people
want to fast, as a spiritual discipline for forty days, there are several
challenges for us from this text.
- Fasting is not for an individual piety, but has to be corporal and for the transformation of our society. This season is an opportunity to give up our self-righteous attitudes and publicity displays on our acts of fasting.
- Don’t take fasting during this season in vain, for many think this season can be an opportunity to cut down their calories and use it as a period to slim down their bodies. Fasting is not a cosmetic exercise.
- The account of fasting in Jonah resonates with Duetro-Isaisah’s understanding of fasting, which is recorded in Isaiah 58: 1-12, to fast unto justice. Fasting is a spiritual exercise for justice. ‘Fast unto justice’ is the need, meaning, purpose and direction of our fasting today. The call for us it to proclaim a fast unto justice against the injustices of our times and strive to establish a just society.
- In the context of the Campaign for climate justice, should not our fasting in this season sensitize our congregations and communities to be akin with the flora and fauna, address acts of greed and save our splendid earth?
- In the context of the growing violence, oppression and discrimination done in the name of caste, gender, sexuality, religion and region, should not our fasting in this season conscientize our communities to become peacemakers and bring in justice and liberation?
Lent is a season to ‘spring forth’ for
justice, and let the experience of Jesus’ Cross inspire and challenge us to
partake in doing actions for justice. Jesus was nailed to Cross for he stood
and strived for justice of his times, for he proclaimed an alternative vision
to the reign of Roman empire in the vision of Kingdom of God, for he sided with
those on the margins and for willing to be branded as ‘criminal’ for the sake
of the values he preached and practiced. God’s resurrection strength did not
leave Jesus, for he rose again on the third day defeating the forces of death,
and springing up in new life. Wishing
you all a meaningful season of Lent, and let our fasting turn into actions of
justice and help us to join along with experiences of Cross in our times today
and make resurrection a reality for our times.
Raj Bharath
Patta,
Lent 2016
[1] Ronald F.
Thiemann, Constructing a Public Theology, The Church in a Pluralistic Culture (Kentucky:
Westminister/ John Knox Press, 1991) P.113-114
Picture courtesy: http://www.orthodoxherald.com/wp-content/uploads/fast-lent.jpg
