Passover of Jonah 

 

The readings conclude with the joys of repentance, the joy of resurrection from death, and deliverance from eternal destruction represented by the deliverance of Jonah from the belly of the whale.

The readings begin with The Matins psalm, in which the repentant soul sings with a gush of joy and pleasure instead of moaning and slackcloth.

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,”

 

The Matins Psalm emphasizes that the goal of God’s chastening, the salvation of the soul from eternal death, and at the same time does not allow the heaviness of distress and severity.

“I called on the Lord in distress; The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.

The Lord has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death.”

 

Therefore, the Matins gospel compares the sign and the miracle that God wants for us, the act of His resurrection in us, with the sign behind which we gasp and run on the condition of faith.

“ Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.”

 

Pauline Epistle clearly declares that faith in the Risen Christ is the key to salvation and the title of preaching.

“ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

 

Catholic Epistle emphasizes that the good news of the resurrection is the joy of the souls of the Old Testament in hell, and we now receive its action in baptism.

“by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

There is also an antitype which now saves us–baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

 

Praxis explains that the blessing that God promised Our Father Abraham, was realized in the resurrection of Christ, glory be to Him, by changing life and gaining a new life.

“You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

 

The Gospel of the liturgy concludes with the greatest sign that humanity has received, which is His Holy Resurrection.

“ So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.”

 

Important note (repetition of the three-day expression ) 

This expression is repeated in the readings of the Nineveh fast with Jonah ( the prophecies of the second day ) , and with Nineveh city (prophecies of the third day ) ,i Top of Form

iiii     iiiii     n the feeding of the crowds (Gospel of the Third Day liturgy) and on talking Bottom of Formabout raising the temple of His body three days later (gospel of the Passover liturgy of Jonah)

Or in other words, in Jonah’s stay in the whale’s belly for three days (Jonah  1 : 17), and in the threat March of Annihilation to the city of Nineveh (Jonah  3 : 3), and in three days in the wilderness with Christ to hear the word of life (Matthew  15 : 32),

And three days in the grave (Matthew  12 : 40) before the light of His resurrection: between a humanity which is confronted with God in three days by the threat of punishment in the Old Testament , and a humanity which meets with the word of life in a quiet session through the will of love and thirst for His grace

in the New Testament 

And between the old man who is led to death without his will as punishment for his transgression, and the New Man who goes to death of His own free will to give us salvation

It is also between the three days that ancient Jonah spent in the hell of his escape , and between the three days that The new Jonah transported all captured in hell to paradise

It is between three days in the belly of the whale, ancient Jonah begged God to make him look at His Holy Temple  and between the three days that the New Jonah spends in the subsoil of the Earth, so that all mankind will restore the possibility of being

a holy temple ( 1 Corinthians 6:19)

It is also between three days the people of Nineveh raise their eyes to heaven to escape from anger , and between the son of Man who raises His eyes to the Father after three days to give mankind satiety, sufficiency and overflow of a drink offering of His love

It is between one hundred and twenty thousand persons whom God looks to for their salvation and deliverance, and among one hundred and twenty thousand persons of the New Testament Church ( Jews and Gentiles, twelve representing the tribes of Israel , and the ten thousands  representing the Gentiles ) whom God always looks to for their salvation.

It is wonderful that our Holy Church chooses the prayer of Jonah for the three days in the whale’s belly (an expression of the prayer of the son of Man bearing the sufferings of mankind ), to be one of the two prophecies to which the twelfth hour of the readings of Great Friday belongs.

It is also strange that our holy church chose the second miracle of the feeding of the multitudes, not the first, in which the Lord fed four thousand , and seven baskets were left.

It is known that the First miracle in which  the Lord fed five thousand men, twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up.

It is the only miracle that came in the four Gospels (Matthew 14 : 13 – 21), and (Mark 6 : 30 – 44), the (Luke 9 : 10 – 17), and (John 6: 1 – 14).

And the question here is: why did the church choose the miracle of the second feeding of the multitudes (Matt 15 : 32-38), which is mentioned only in the Gospel of Matthew to be the Gospel of the Liturgy of the third day of Nineveh fasting?

The answer is that it is the only text in which the expression ” because they have three days to stay here with me ” is mentioned ” an expression that did not come in the first miracle in the four gospels, and perhaps the reason why this miracle was chosen to be a symbol of the three days of salvation for Jonah , the time of the salvation of the Ninevites , and the time of visiting the hungry humanity

And the time of the liberation of mankind captured in the hell of death and sin, and perhaps the reason is also that this miracle was a symbol of the satisfaction of the Gentiles ( seven baskets were added to them in reference to the gentiles), so that the salvation of the Gentiles in the Old Testament meets with the visitation of divine love through a stubborn servant, and the Salvation and salvation of the Gentiles in the New Testament through the servant of the most holy (Hebrews 8 : 2) in which we found eternal redemption (Hebrews 9 : 12).

 

The summary of the readings 

Matins psalm		The drink offering of the spiritual joy and heartfelt pleasure of repentance instead of whining.
Matins gospel		A sign and a miracle that are sought by humans and rejected by God.
Pauline Epistle		Christ-glory be to Him-who has risen from the dead is the entrance to salvation and the title of Preaching.
Catholic Epistle		The good news of the resurrection is the rejoice of the souls of the Old Testament who repented in their last moments.
Catholic Epistle			Salvation is by baptism.
Praxis			God’s blessing to Abraham was realized in the resurrection of Christnglory be to Him.
Liturgy psalm			The goal of God’s reproches is to save man from eternal destruction.
Liturgy gospel			The greatest sign that humanity receives is the act of his Holy Resurrection.

Inspired by the readings 

Realizing God 

• “Now I realized that running to You is much better than running away from You” (Jonah 1:3)
• “And I saw the fear of justice and truth in your creation despite worship to their idolatry” (Jonah 1:14)
• “And I realized the obedience of the whole creation to you, the Pantocrator of all” (Jonah 1: 4-15-17)
• “And I was ashamed of Your acceptance of my cry, and I am in the depth of my weakness and dishonesty” (Jonah 2: 2)
• “And You taught me that the repentance of the wicked (in my eyes) can be a model for the righteous” (Jonah 3:5-6)
• “And change is what you look at in our fasting and repentance” (Jonah 3:10)
• And I never imagined that you were behind the simple details in my life (Jonah 1:3)
• And You are even busy with beasts (Jonah 4:11)
• And that You are not ashamed to explain to me Your will (Jonah 4:10)
• Which the only obstacle to declare was my ego and dignity !! (Jonah 4:2-9)