The Sign of Jonah

The introduction Paul gives to his epistle to the Romans expresses the way he perceived his own vocation and the vocation of the community in Rome. Of himself he writes that he was "called to be an apostle" and "set apart to proclaim the gospel." Later he writes that he and those who assisted him in the work of evangelization were "favored with apostleship."

Paul was a man consumed - almost obsessed - with his task of converting the Gentiles to faith in Jesus Christ. Yet he looked upon it not as a burden - not as a penance laid upon him for the time he spent persecuting the Church - but as a grace, as a privilege bestowed upon him by Jesus Christ.

Who is this Jesus about whom Paul was commissioned to preach and who likewise favors us with the task of evangelization? Today's gospel reading reveals a Savior rejected by those he came to save. His ministry among his people was marked by a phenomenon which he called the "sign of Jonah." Whereas Jonah preached condemnation to Nineveh, and they repented and found salvation, Jesus preached salvation to Israel, but they would not accept him and so would be condemned. This Jesus brought salvation to those willing to accept him yet condemnation to those who opposed him. His message was good news to the poor but bad news to the rich.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic work, The Cost of Discipleship, writes that the cross is primarily an experience of rejection and ridicule. Jesus faced rejection continually in his ministry. Paul and those who followed him in the task of evangelization likewise encountered rejection. Jesus in fact promised us that any integral preaching of the gospel will be opposed because many people regard the dawning of God's kingdom as bad news. But there is cause for rejoicing for us who have been favored with the ministry of evangelization because if we face rejection and ridicule for our faith in Jesus then we are being made similar to our crucified Lord.

Jesus failed to convert Israel. But he turned that failure into the means of salvation through the cross. We cannot presume to have any more success than our Savior had. Our lives as Christians and our ministry will likewise be marked by the same rejection, ridicule and failure that Jesus suffered. Yet, as was the case with Jesus, it will be our faithfulness not our success that God will use as a means of salvation for the world.