Today is Word of God Sunday. So, as you might expect, our readings are about God's word.
What's funny, well one funny thing among many funny things in the Book of Jonah, from which our first reading is taken, is that the only one not to receive God's word was the one who was sent to proclaim it: Jonah. In this biblical novella, the reluctant prophet didn't like Ninevites. Their potential destruction sounded good to him but not good enough to go to Nineveh, at least not at first.
Once he was there, after trying to flee, he dutifully called Nineveh to repentance, no doubt hoping he would be ignored and they would be destroyed. Lo and behold! The people of Nineveh repented, thus avoiding God's wrath. This led Jonah to sit on a hill outside the city sulking.
Jonah did not receive the saving word that he himself proclaimed!
Contrast this with Andrew and Peter and James and John. Like the people of Nineveh, upon hearing the saving word, they responded immediately, dropping everything to Jesus, who is the Word.
One's response depends on one's heart. Is your heart open to God and to others? Or, like Jonah's, is your heart hard and closed either to God (and/)or to others?
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