Last
Sunday I talked to you about listening to that invitation and call coming from
God. If you answer the call, you will have to face its consequences – every
call has a risk. You see, although we
hear an authentic call clearly, many times we simply do not want to respond or
follow that call to greatness and greater goodness.
Look
at many young people today, they’d rather aspire to be nurses rather than
doctors, employees rather than entrepreneurs. In class, they would prefer to
sit and study by themselves than face a couple of bullies who disturb the
lessons. In the parish, they’d rather be sitting on the bench rather than doing
just a bit more in the service of their fellow brothers and sisters. Instead of
committing a lifetime to be priests, brothers or nuns, they’d rather be
volunteers for a week or a year. Instead of wanting to be the next Einstein,
they would just rather be casted with Sheldon and Amy Farah Fowler in “Big Bang
Theory.” Don’t get me wrong all these are good, I’m just questioning the dynamics
– the “why are we afraid of greater goodness and of facing our destiny?”
Today
in the gospel we are introduced to the calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John
whom Jesus named apostles. “Come follow
me and I will make you fishers of people. (Mk.1.17)” Wow that’s a tough order! Yes it’s
true, they immediately followed Jesus thinking he’ll just go fishing and
without knowing the consequences of this call. But right after the
transfiguration, right after they saw the preview of the glory that awaits
them, Jesus invited them to follow him to his impending death in Jerusalem: “for as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth. (Mt.12:40)
The Son of Man must suffer many things
and be killed, and after three days rise again (Mk 8:31). Peter took him aside and began to
rebuke him. "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to
you! (Mt 16:22)" So why
were Peter, James, and John afraid to scale new heights of glory with Jesus?
And why prevent Jesus from fulfilling his destiny?
There
is greatness trapped in every one of us. We are all born with the potential to
be great and to contribute something special to the world. There is no one born
without a purpose and no one without a destiny to fulfil. But the hard fact is
many of us are afraid to learn what this purpose or destiny is. Because if we
did, then we’ll have to endeavour to fulfil it. And that entails a difficult
path and we are afraid we will not succeed. This is what Peter, James, and John
felt. They had a “Jonah Complex.”
Our
first reading describes this “Jonah complex” clearer. The Lord calls Jonah: “Get up, go to Nineveh and tell everyone to
repent from their wickedness; forty days more and Nineveh will be wiped out (Jon.3.1).” First we must understand that Nineveh
was the great capital of Assyria and the Assyrians were the mighty archenemy of
the not-so-powerful Jews. So tell me, If I were Jonah, why would I, a Jew, go
to Nineveh alone and tell them to change their ways. For one, I am not going
there to tell them: “Hello, you know God
loves you and cares for you.” No - God wants me to go there and preach
against them- “Hey all of you, your evil
is a dirty stench to the Lord. Your judgment has come!” They will
definitely gang up, torture and kill me. And two, well if I don’t go, they
don’t repent, it would be better for God to wipe them out, that way, we have
one enemy less, right? But deep down inside Jonah’s heart, he knows that if he
does go and succeed, then he could go down in history as a great prophet who
followed God and in doing so managed to sway the mighty enemy to good. But Jonah
would rather do the former- the status quo. So Jonah flees from God. Instead of
going to the direction of Nineveh, he takes a ship to the opposite direction.
That my friends, is the “Jonah complex.”
The
“Jonah complex” is a psychological
term first proposed by Frank Manuel
and Abraham Maslow (hierarchy of needs). The “Jonah
complex” is the fear of success
which prevents one’s growth, or the realization of one’s potential. It is the fear of one’s own greatness. It is when
a person evades of his or her destiny, and avoids of exercising his or her
talents. It is when one has the opportunity and he chooses to escape and turn
back in fear. In simple terms, it is the
fear of growing up. This was what
Jonah felt and so did the apostles in the middle of their journey. We all have
some degree of this Jonah Complex. We all try to some extent to divert our
attention, to look the other way, and to cotton our ears to the call of God in
our lives. No wonder there are fewer who would dare follow Christ’s call to be
priests, brothers, or nuns.
Robert
Frost has a poem: “The road not taken.”
It starts with: “Two roads diverged in a
yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.” The first was a grassy
road, familiar to many. The other was a narrow pathway filled with leaves, a
road less travelled. The poem ends with: “Two
roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less travelled by, and that has
made all the difference.” That road is destiny. That road will lead to
greatness. And yet for us, we fear that road because we will find ourselves
isolated. And that is frightening- to be in the minority, to be all alone. That
is why many of us would rather take the familiar road… we’d rather spend our
life staying away from being brilliant, from reaching our potential, and from
achieving our destiny. The Jonah complex!
Abraham
Maslow would ask his university students: “Who is going to write the next great
psychology textbook?” No answer. No one would dare raise a hand. So Maslow tells them a secret. A phrase to lead
them out of the Jonah complex: “If not you,
then who?” When Jonah was doubting
why he should go to Niniveh, God must have told him: “If not you, then
who?” When the apostles were asking
themselves on that fateful day why they were chosen as part of the twelve?
Jesus must have told them: “If not you, then who?” And when today, you come face to face with that giant
whale that will swallow you to bring you to your destiny, in fear you might ask
it: “Why me?” The whale will answer: “If not you, then who?” And don’t you dare
tell that whale: "There, eat Fr Gigi first."
References:
O’Brien,
J. (2014). “The Jonah Complex.”
McInerney,
L. (2014). “The Jonah Complex: Why We Are Afraid Of Being Brilliant.” http://lauramcinerney.com/2014/01/30/the-jonah-complex-why-we-are-afraid-of-being-brilliant/
Jiale.
How to Overcome the Jonah Complex. http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/How-Overcome-The-Jonah-Complex-/4014434#.VMFnJ_nF-So
Frost,
R. (1916). “The Road Not Taken.” Mountain Interval.