Numbers

Have you ever had one of those days when the same thoughts keep creeping up, no matter what else you’re doing? Today was one of those days for me. Sometimes I think God is really a mathematician. I find it remarkable how many numbers show up in Scripture. Not just any number, but the same numbers seem to repeat over and over again—3 and 40 (usually days), 7 (usually gifts or sacraments), 12 (tribes, Apostles). In today's readings we come across a couple of numbers: 3 and 40.

In our first Old Testament Scripture reading, we hear it takes three days to walk through the enormously large city of Nineveh. No numbers are stated in the Gospel reading, but it is apparent that the sign of Jonah that Jesus speaks of relates to the number three as the days Jonah spent in the belly of the fish and as a prophecy about the number of days Jesus will stay in the grave prior to His resurrection. But what is interesting about this is that when Jonah goes to call for the repentance of Nineveh, he only has to walk one day of the three-day journey before the people hear and repent. However, Jesus spent all three days in the tomb, and 2000 years later, many of us are still not hearing His call to repentance.

Jonah tells the citizens of Nineveh that they have 40 days to repent or they will be destroyed. We know the significance of the number 40 as the number of days that Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness and the number of years that the Israelites wandered in the desert. In many instances, the number 40 refers to a period of renewal and the time spent alone with the Lord.

So where are we with these numbers? We are in our 40 days of renewal and repentance. Are we getting the message as did the Ninevites?