20 January 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
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“saying, “I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” Jonah 2:2
On the third day we hear Jonah praying from the depths. Swallowed by the great fish, at the bottom of the sea, with weeds wrapped around his head, he does not despair: “I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me.” “As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came to you.” And on the third day the fish spews him onto dry land. The Fathers saw here Christ's descent into death and his rising, and also our Baptism: going down into the water and coming up to new life.
In the Gospel people tell Jesus of a disaster in Jerusalem, and he answers: do not think the victims were worse sinners than you; “unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” Repentance is not for others; it is for me, now. Paul says: “you are all children of light and children of the day”; let us “keep awake and be sober.” Today the Church honours St Sebastian, the soldier who served Christ more than Caesar and twice faced death for him. Jonah prayed in the depths; Sebastian stood firm under the arrows. Both teach us that no depth is beyond God's hearing.
Theme: “I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me.”
The prayer from the depths, the call to repent, and the courage of St Sebastian.
“Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!” Psalm 130:1–2
“Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4
Apply: Bring your deepest trouble to God in prayer tonight.
“Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” Ezekiel 18:31
“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” Luke 13:3
Apply: Make your confession before the fast ends.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1
“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
Apply: Stand firm in your faith at work or school.
No depth is beyond God's hearing.
Repent now, and live as children of the light.
Take-home resolution: Make a good confession before the fast ends.
Dear friends, today we hear Jonah praying from the belly of the fish. At the bottom of the sea, with weeds around his head, he prays: I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice (Jonah 2:2).
There is no depth where God cannot hear us. On the third day the fish brought Jonah to dry land. The Fathers saw here the death and Resurrection of Christ, and our own Baptism.
In the Gospel Jesus says: unless you repent, you will all perish (Luke 13:3). We often think repentance is for others. Jesus says it is for me, now. Paul adds: you are all children of light and children of the day (1 Thessalonians 5:5).
Today we honour St Sebastian, who served Christ more than Caesar and did not fear death. On this last day of the fast, let us pray from our depths, repent honestly and stand firm. Amen.
Children, Jonah prayed to God from inside a big fish, and God heard him! God hears us wherever we are.
Lord our God, you heard Jonah from the belly of the fish and brought him up on the third day. Hear us in our distress, give us true repentance, and through the prayers of St Sebastian make us brave children of the light. Amen.
On the third day of the fast we go down with Jonah to the bottom of the sea and hear him pray. In the Gospel Jesus refuses to treat other people's disasters as proof of their sin, and he turns the question back on us. The Epistle (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11) calls us “children of light”. Today we also honour St Sebastian. The key words are belly of Sheol, remember and repent.
Setting.
Jonah has been thrown into the sea, and “the Lord provided a large fish” (1:17; in the Hebrew Bible this verse is 2:1, so that the verse numbers of the psalm are one higher there). The chapter is a psalm of thanksgiving with a sentence of narrative on either side. Its language is close to the Book of Psalms throughout. Many scholars think that the storyteller placed here a psalm that was known in Israel, or composed it in that familiar style.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” (2:2)
He speaks in the past tense while still inside the fish. It is a song of thanks before the rescue is complete. Faith gives thanks from the dark.
“all your waves and your billows passed over me.” (2:3)
These words echo Psalm 42:7. Jonah in his worst hour prays in the words he learned in Israel's worship. Those who learn the psalms have words when they cannot find any.
“As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” (2:7)
Jonah ran from God's presence (1:3), and here he finds that even from the depths his prayer reaches it. No depth is beyond God's hearing.
“But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”” (2:9)
The sailors have already offered sacrifice and made vows (1:16). Now the prophet catches up with them.
“Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.” (2:10)
God has spoken to the prophet and been disobeyed. He speaks to the fish, and it obeys at once. The storyteller's humour is at work even here.
How the Church reads it.
The Fathers saw in this chapter Christ's descent among the dead and his rising. St Cyril of Jerusalem compares the two in his Catechetical Lectures (14, in substance): Jonah was cast into the fish, and Christ of his own will went down into death. The Catechism teaches that Jesus, like all people, experienced death and went down to the realm of the dead as Saviour (CCC 632–633). The Fathers also read the chapter of Baptism, a going down into water and a coming up to new life (Romans 6:4; CCC 1214).
Setting.
Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, and he has just told the crowd to read the signs of the present time and settle their accounts while there is still time (12:54–59). Some people bring him news of a killing. Luke is our only source for this incident, but what we know of Pilate from Josephus and other writers makes it easy to believe. The tower of Siloam stood near the pool of that name in the south of Jerusalem, and we know nothing more of its fall. The parable of the barren fig tree, given one more year, comes straight after (13:6–9).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” (13:1)
The killing happened at worship, probably in the Temple. The tellers may have expected Jesus, a Galilean, to condemn Pilate or to comment on the victims. He does neither.
““Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?” (13:2)
Jesus takes away a comfortable idea: that disaster falls on others because they deserve it. Compare John 9:3.
“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” (13:3)
The question is turned around. The real issue is not their sins but ours. Every news report is a reminder that life is short and that today is the time to turn.
“those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them” (13:4)
The first case was a crime and this one an accident. Together they cover all the sudden deaths we can imagine.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that no quick answer will suffice to the question of evil (CCC 309), and that it is the whole of the Christian faith that answers it. It describes interior repentance as a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return to God with all our heart (CCC 1431). So Jesus does not explain disasters here, and he forbids us to make them a judgement on the victims. He uses them as a call: to turn while there is time, and to help those who suffer.
When a flood or an earthquake comes, is God punishing the people there?
Jesus says plainly that we may not draw this conclusion about those who suffer. God does not will the evil of innocent suffering for its own sake, and our answer to such disasters is prayer and help for those who suffer in many lands. We may each ask what the event says to my own life. That is the question Jesus asks here.
The Church honours St Sebastian today. Rome remembered him as a martyr from an early date. The story of the arrows, and of how he survived them to die later under clubs, comes from a later account of his passion, which historians read with caution. His story and Jonah's meet at this point: both teach that no depth or danger puts us beyond God's care. The Unity Octave continues. This is the third day of the fast, and the fast concludes tomorrow.