3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

​With God is my deliverance and my honor;
rock of my strength, my refuge, is in God.  
~Psalm 62:7
 
Let’s be honest. Jonah is a terrible prophet! Resistant, uncaring, easily angered. He wants nothing to do with these Ninevites—capital dwellers of the Assyrian nation. That’s the one that finally ripped the twelve tribes of Israel apart, after all (1 Chronicles 5, 2 Kings 17-18). He has reason to be angry.
 
We might argue there is nothing that would make him happier than to see Assyrians wiped from the face of the earth. Indeed, Jonah admits as much in the story. But he knows the God he is dealing with: “That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” (Jonah 4:2).
 
In Mark, we find Jesus calling the first disciples—Simon and Andrew among them—and they follow. Immediately. Urgently.
 
I remember a professor wondering about the ways in which we undermine ourselves and the very things we most desire: “What is it we want,” she asked, “and what will we do not to get it?” Jonah seems to go to great lengths.
 
What do we want from this gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love?
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Jonah 3:1-10 † Psalm 62:5-129 † 1 Corinthians 7:29-31† Mark 1:14-20
 
About the Art: Swanson, John August. Jonah, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56549 [retrieved January 9, 2024]. Original source: Estate of John August Swanson, https://www.johnaugustswanson.com/.

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​About the artist:
JOHN AUGUST SWANSON makes his home in Los Angeles, California, where he was born in 1938. He paints in oil, watercolor, acrylic and mixed media, and is an independent printmaker of limited-edition serigraphs, lithographs and etchings.

His art reflects the strong heritage of storytelling he inherited from his Mexican mother and Swedish father. John Swanson’s narrative is direct and easily understood. He addresses himself to human values, cultural roots, and his quest for self-discovery through visual images. These include Bible stories and social celebrations such as attending the circus, the concert, and the opera. He also tells of everyday existence, of city and country walks, of visits to the library, the train station or the schoolroom. All his parables optimistically embrace life and one’s spiritual transformation.

​John Swanson studied with Corita Kent at Immaculate Heart College. His unique style is influenced by the imagery of Islamic and medieval miniatures, Russian iconography, the color of Latin American folk art, and the tradition of Mexican muralists.