The Power is in the Word
Fr. John Riccardo
October 13, 2021
“How do you convince them?” That was the question a woman asked me some time ago. We were talking about the importance of preaching the gospel to a generation that, in large part, has never heard it. She asked the question after we had spoken for some time about how we break open the kerygma in ACTS XXIX. “Convince them?” I responded. “I honestly don’t worry about that. That’s not on me. My job is to proclaim the news; the Holy Spirit is the only one who can convince them.”
That exchange came back to me last week as we read again the story of Jonah at daily Mass. The brilliant rabbi and scholar, Jonathan Sacks, once observed that the Jewish prophets were by and large unheeded in their lifetimes by their audiences, with the notable exception of Jonah, who spoke not to his fellow Jews but to pagans in Nineveh.
Jonah has always been a most interesting figure to me, and perhaps his story has something particular to say to us in our day and age, especially with regards to the power of God’s word. Jonah, we remember, was called by the Lord to go to Nineveh and tell them that their wickedness had come before the Lord and He was going to do something dire if they didn’t turn from their evil ways. Jonah, however, didn’t go to Nineveh; he went to Tarshish, 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Why? Why didn’t he go and warn them? We find out at the end of the story. By that time, after a tragic encounter with a giant fish, Jonah did go to Nineveh and speak God’s word, and the people did repent and they were spared by God’s mercy, for He does not desire the death of the wicked but that all might live. Upon seeing them spared, however, we learn of Jonah’s reason for not wanting to go the first time God called him. “This is why I fled at first to Tarshish,” Jonah tells God. “I knew that you were a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loath to punish” (4:2). In other words, Jonah didn’t want them to be spared. He wanted vengeance on his enemies. He wanted them to “get theirs.”
If most of us are honest, we can often be like Jonah—at least I know I can. Oh, I may not outright say those words, but thoughts like, “If only so and so were not around, life would be so much easier.” Or, “That person will never be reached.” There are a number of temptations present in us, I think, as disciples of Jesus, with regards to sharing God’s word with “the Ninevites” in our lives. Perhaps we prefer to adopt a sort of ghetto mentality and just surround ourselves with like-minded people. Or maybe we think “they” (whoever “they” are) won’t listen. Or, perhaps we simply prefer to sit in judgment on those who do evil. Or maybe we just don’t care about those who are lost.
These thoughts have got me wondering of late if we as disciples really believe the gospel is power, that His word is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (cf. Heb 4:12), and that just as the Ninevites only needed to hear God’s word to change their ways, so it might be with some of those around us. Who knows, even some high profile and highly placed men and women, who belong to the Body of Christ by baptism but who are estranged from Jesus by their actions and words, might even repent and change their ways if only they were to hear the straightforward and merciful word of God announced to them.
All of us, by baptism, have been made prophets. To be a prophet, most basically, means to speak on God’s behalf, to tell others of the glorious things He has done for us in the person of His Son, Jesus. Sometimes, that announcement is one of warning (even to unbelievers, like the Ninevites); more often, it’s probably an announcement of His extraordinary love for us by going to war for us against the powers of Satan, Hell, Sin, and Death. To be sure, not everyone responds as the Ninevites did. Sometimes it is met with rejection, mockery, and much worse. But sometimes hearts are broken open and lives are radically changed…forever. And we simply don’t know which one it will be. But nothing will happen if we don’t open our mouths and, motivated by love and love alone, speak.
God’s word is power. Do we really believe it? Do you? Do I?
Let us be on the lookout this week for opportunities to exercise our prophetic role and to speak the word of God with charity and with confidence in His desire to reach the lost…even through broken vessels like us.