وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


He began the reconciliation. When He saw Jonah miserable He prepared a plant and made it come up over him, that it might be shade for his head "to deliver him from his misery" (Jon. 4:6).

Many a time do You labor for us, O Lord! You labor for our comfort, for correcting us and for reconciling us. We thought that You rested since the seventh day, but You are still working for our sake. You rested from creating the world but concerning its care, You are still working.

You wanted to deliver Jonah from his misery, but it was he who incurred misery upon himself by his wrong attitude

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Jonah

I shall uproot obduracy from his heart by the merciful deeds which I shall work with him, so that he may perceive and learn. Just as I had compassion on Nineveh I shall have compassion on him, because compassion is My nature. I had compassion on him when he was cast into the sea; I had compassion on him when he was in the belly of the great fish. I had compassion on him in all his lapses and sensitivities, and I shall have compassion on him now in his misery. I have prepared for him a plant that it might be shade for his head because I know that he will greatly rejoice over it. I seek his joy no matter how much he grumbles at My judgment and no matter how much he becomes angry with My deeds.

It happened as God willed, and "Jonah was very grateful for the plant" (Jon. 4:6). Believe me, when I read of the great joy which Jonah had over the plant, I was stunned. It is indeed an embarrassing phrase!

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Jonah

Do you rejoice greatly, Jonah, over the plant which gave shade to your head and did not even hardly rejoice, but rather became angry, at God's mercy which overshadowed one hundred and twenty thousand persons? Would it not have been more appropriate that you should rejoice thus over the salvation of Nineveh?

You rejoiced over the plant because you thought of your own personal comfort, of your self, and not of the kingdom of God on earth. And it pleased God to gladden you after your own heart to show you that He cares for you and deals with you not according to your deeds but according to the abundance of His loving kindness. God descends to your materialistic level to raise you up to the spiritual level befitting a prophet. He deals with you with such compassion whilst you are sinful to sow in your heart compassion for sinners. Thus He cures your obduracy and unmercifulness towards the Ninevites.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Jonah

The plant which God prepared for Jonah had two aims:

The first was to show compassion on Jonah and give him shade for his head. The second was to teach him a beneficial spiritual lesson for his life. By the growth of the plant God did a merciful deed for Jonah and by its withering God gave him guidance and teaching so that he might benefit bodily, mentally and spiritually.

In Nineveh, Jonah by his preaching was working with God in spreading His kingdom. And outside Nineveh, God was working for Jonah to save his soul and deliver him from his misery.

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[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah


God continued to work, quietly and in silence, without Jonah noticing. When Jonah rejoiced over the plant it was for its shade and not for the lesson it gave, because he had not yet received it. He rejoiced over the plant and not because of God who was working for his sake from behind the plant.

When God's design started to bear fruit, He prepared a worm and it damaged the plant. The role of the plant ended and remained for God to use it as an element for teaching!

The plant was gone and the shade was gone, and the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint and wished death for himself. All these happened according to God's plan in order to give Jonah a useful lesson for his salvation.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah


Indeed God disposes everything for good, the shade for good and the sun's beating for good as well. The body may grow faint yet this may be for good, that the spirit may become refreshed. Jonah might grow miserable and his soul troubled and he wished death for himself, and this affliction and trouble could be part of God's design, good for saving his spirit and cleansing his heart.

God desires our salvation and is ready to use any, useful means even if it sometimes involves trouble for the body or the soul.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah


Throughout all these spiritual designs Jonah was immersed in his materialistic thoughts; he rejoiced over the plant and became angry when he lost it, without thinking of his own salvation and without caring for reconciliation to God.

When Jonah grew faint from the sun's beat, he wished death for himself, and said "It is better for me to die than to live... (Jon. 4:8). That was the second time he wished death for himself. The first was when he was vexed because of his dignity and the disproof of his word, and the second was when he became angry because of the sun's beat and the dying of the plant. The first was due to a personal reason and the second was due to a physical reason, there was no part for the spirit in the matter.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah


Many persons desired death for sacred spiritual reasons, but Jonah desired death for paltry (worldly) reasons springing from grumbling and lack of long-suffering.

Saint Paul did not err when he said: "..having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better" (Phil. 1:23). Simeon the elder did not err when he said: "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation" (Luke 2:29 & 30).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah


As for Jonah, he did err when he said to God: "Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live!" (Jon. 4:3). He said that whilst grumbling and at a time when he was not ready to die. If God had answered his prayer at that time and taken his life from him, Jonah would have perished. Is it not of God's mercy that He sometimes does not answer our prayers if we ignorantly pray for our hurt? The Apostle rightly says: " You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss" (James 4:3).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III


Jonah

When Jonah reached the stage of praying for his death, God started to talk the matter over with him. He said to him: "Is it right for you to be angry?"(Jon. 4:4) Are you angry because of God's wisdom and mercy?

Jonah replied: "It is right for me to be angry, even to death” (Jon. 4:9)! I lost my word and my dignity, and now You have deprived me of the shade of the plant, and You do not expect me to be angry that?

Although that manner of speech on Jonah's part was not nice from the spiritual point of view, yet it indicates his honesty with God and his revealing of his true inner depths.

God began to reason with Jonah and convince him. He said to him: "You have had pity, on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand person?" (Jon. 4:10 & 11).