"When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes."

Jonah 3:6

Where will you be a hundred years from today? This answer to this question can quickly clear up any illusion about what kind of power we have in and of ourselves.

I know a man who was very successful in many ways. His business was very successful and he made a lot of money. He had a big family that was known for their goodness and accomplishments. This man put a lot of faith in himself and his own power. As the pressures of life and raising a large family increased he realized he was incapable of handling all of life’s challenges that were coming at him. In order to deal with all the stress and hardships he turned to drink hoping that would help him in the face of his obvious limitations. As we all know, drinking has never solved a problem. Finally, the man admitted to himself, God and his family that he was powerless and he was going to start over again. He turned to God and put his faith in God and God’s power.

In many ways this man was just emulating the king we read about in the book of Jonah. The king of the land is the one who has absolute power over the land and all the people who live in it. But this king hears that God will destroy his land of Nineveh because their evil. In response to this news announced by Jonah, he rises from his throne and lays aside his robe. Here, the king is throwing off any illusion of earthly power in the symbolic act of laying aside his robe. He shows his turning from faith in his own power to faith in God’s power by this act and taking on sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth and ashes declare that we are doomed sinners who totally depend on God’s merciful power to save us.

Where will you be a hundred years from today? This is a great question to keep before us which reveals our utter powerlessness. Let us not live in illusion. We cannot do one good thing unless it was for the power of God.

Lay down your robe of power- whatever that might be. Put on sackcloth and ashes and know that the only way we can be in heaven a hundred years from today is by the gift of God’s merciful power. But take eternal hope in St. Paul’s teaching that it is in powerlessness where Christ’s power reaches perfection (2 Cor. 12:9).

Lay your robe down. The best place to be in life is powerless before the All-Powerful One.

God’s will!
+Fr. John