Tightrope of Trust

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, January 21st, 2023:
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Jonah
3:1-5, 10

The word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

It’s so relatable to me that, the first time God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, he went to Tarshish instead. He clearly didn’t believe God, didn’t listen, and didn’t do as he was asked. How often have I been Jonah, heading “away from the presence of the Lord”?

Here is the challenge in today’s readings: believe God. Believe in love, believe in mercy, believe in the redemptive power of suffering and in the beauty of natural law.

Why is it so difficult to believe God, to believe that what He promises is true and good? 

As a parent of teenagers, I have developed an appreciation for God’s dilemma in His appeal to His people. There’s a fine line between enabling bad behaviour and encouraging growth and independence. On that tightrope of a fine line, trust balances precariously, despite years of ground work and thoughtful approaches… I sympathize with God as I hold my head in my hands and lament, “Why won’t they trust me? I only have their best interests in mind!”

I (and my kids) know all too well that what is best for us is often the hardest thing to choose. By reminding one another and supporting one another in our endeavours to follow the difficult, narrow path toward eternity with Him, we help each other remember, while honouring our freedom to do otherwise. The same way that when Jonah eventually does what God asks and witnesses the beauty of the people of Nineveh returning to Him, he finds his balance on the tightrope, and trusts.

Again, God shows me my mirror image in scripture: my unbelief, my fear, my failure to listen, and my reluctance to trust. Jonah helps to give me the courage I need to to put one foot in front of the other on that tightrope.




​Lindsay Elford

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