A Big Fish Story - there's more to Jonah than just a whale of a tale ...
We all know the story of Jonah and the whale ... but there is a problem with that ... the story of Jonah is more than the fantastic and clearly fictional tale of Jonah and the great fish ... even the text says a great fish not a whale ...
The
heart of the story of Jonah is not actually his encounter with the great fish –
or whale as we’ve been lead to describe the being that swallows the prophet and
later spits him up on dry land within walking distance of the city of Ninevah …
take a moment to revisit the geography of that event alone … Jonah is swallowed
somewhere in the Mediterranean then spit up on the shore within walking
distance of Ninevah … the whale broke ALL aquatic speed records going out into
the Atlantic, racing around the continent of Africa and then up around the
Arabia peninsula to modern day Iraq …
Given
that fact alone, we can draw the conclusion that the intent of the book was not
to convey a historical nor a factual event, but rather to convey a lesson … a
lesson that may be all about the very nature of God and how God relates to us …
The story begins with the unbelievable perhaps to allow us to comprehend God
more fully …
The
heart of Jonah’s story is his own struggle coming to understand God and God’s
nature more fully …
After
Jonah answers God’s call to go to Ninevah and seek the repentance of the city –
the very call that caused Jonah to flee on the ship to begin with – Jonah goes
to the great city and the most amazing thing happens – the ENTIRE city repents
– the whole city – from the highest and most powerful down to the lowly
homeless beggars … they all fasted, put on sackcloths and ashes to show their
repentance.
But
Jonah didn’t embrace this as a good thing – instead he was ticked off – he
wanted to see God’s wrath fall down on the city in fire or earthquake or at the
very least some sort of pestilence or suffering … but that was not the way God
chose.
One can
almost hear Jonah whining and complaining to God – “I should have known this is
what you would do … you give compassion when revenge is due … you should give
punishment but noooooooo … you forgive them … YOU FORGIVE THEM!!”
And God
answers Jonah asking – What reason to you have to be so peeved?
Jonah
doesn’t reply but instead stomps off in a huff and heads into the desert to
pout … but God wasn’t done with Jonah
yet – God caused a castor oil plant to spring up and shade the pouting prophet.
The next morning, however, God sent a worm to cut the plant down, and then sent
the scorching sun and a hot wind from the east to heat up the situation. Once
again the prophet proclaims I would be better off dead.
God then
asks again – “what reason do you have to be so angry?”
Jonah
snaps – EVERY REASON!
God then
says – “you are more concerned about a plant than you are about all my people.
But you had nothing to do with its springing up or its being cut down. It just
grew one day and died the next. Shouldn’t I have more compassion on the great
city with a hundred thousand people who do not even know their right hand from
their left? Who does not know their right hand from their left? Small children
and people of any age who have the minds of small children … Should I not save
an entire city for the sake of small children and people like small children ?
In a reflection
on the book of Jonah and this exchange between God and the prophet, the great
American Jewish rabbi and mystic Abraham Heschel observes that the essential
lesson of the book of Jonah – the story of Jonah and the great fish, Jonah
watching Ninevah repent, and the story of Jonah and the castor seed bush – ALL
of it – is focused almost entirely on the revelation or the reminder that
beyond justice and anger lies the mystery of compassion.
The very
nature of God is about the supremacy of compassion.
The
image of God being presented here emphasizes the mystery of God and God as just
and merciful …
The
story here is about morality and the relationship with God, not historicity and
factual accuracy. The book of Jonah is described by some scholars as a midrash
– a literary form that fills in background information and offers a reflective
lesson. Unlike other prophetic books, Jonah’s emphasis is on the nature of God
rather than the oracles.
The
Midrash discussion raises questions like:
Can God
change God’s mind and repent?
Does
God’s preference to grant life rather than death extend beyond Israel?
Why
weren’t the great empires that pounded Israel destroyed like the other prophets
foretold?
And
perhaps most significant – Is divine Mercy a more powerful attribute of God’s
than justice?
This
discussion then in turn opens the door to a broader spectrum of lessons for the
listener … the midrash lesson on the very nature of God’s mercy and compassion
leads into a critique of the prophetic profession by highlighting Jonah’s moodyness
and pouting and his outright refusal to follow God’s call.
The
attitude and response of Jonah perhaps offers an intentional counter point to
the profession of prophecy in the ancient world … is the work of the prophet
about promoting the Holy and the yearnings of God, or is it about the
individual and their ego … Are the prophets to be the latest televangelist or
onscreen spiritual guru of their day, or are they to promote and share the mercy
and grace of God?
By his
actions Jonah is rejecting God’s will, and focusing a bit too much on his ego …
but God is patient, and draws him back … God shows the path to be trod, and
guides him back. The mercy shown to Ninevah highlights that prophecy is not all
about doom and destruction it is about transformation and renewal. The prophets
standing in the market crying out that God’s wrath is about to fall upon the
people may have a point – but the BIGGER point is that God’s mercy is at play
and the prophets are merely messengers … God’s will shall be done …
This
reminder then leads us to the third and final movement in the book of Jonah - a
full and dramatic celebration of this merciful and loving God.
The
celebration begins with Jonah fleeing by boat, then encountering a massive and
devastating storm that results in his being heaved overboard only to be
swallowed by a fish … the prelude is impressive and highly dramatic. But the
gift of forgiveness and grace that comes in the main act is spectacular.
The book
echoes phrases and images from the Psalms … Psalm 139 that celebrates that
there is no where we can escape from God – if we go to the farthest reaches of world
God is still there … if I flee anywhere God is still there … even the imagery
of Jonah in the dark damp belly of the fish, draws the listener back to the
lesson from the Psalms that even in the deepest corners of Sheol God will STILL
be there …
In the
depth of despair – and really is there any where more dark and desperate than
in the belly of a fish?
In that
despair God is still there … we can never escape from God no matter where we
are …
So, on
that background we then paint the lesson of repentance and forgiveness of
Ninevah …
Jonah
moves from the belly of the fish to be spat out on to dry land, and then he is
party to the massive repentance of Israel’s greatest foe – Ninevah … God’s
mercy is free and unlimited and it extends even to the residents of Ninevah.
This is the stuff of theological high drama – it is in the view of Heschel, an
expression of God’s nature in an unforgettable and highly memorable way.
As we
close the book of Jonah what we should be carrying away with us is an
appreciation that God’s anger is reactive BUT also transient, and even more
importantly, beyond God’s anger lies something more.
God’s
anger passes, but God’s love endures and from that anger remains righteousness
and justice – misphat and hesed … the two core principles that undergird the
ancient Jewish understanding of God.
God can
be vengeful and angry
But God
is also loving and kind
God can
destroy a society in wrath
But God
will also embrace the lonely and forgotten and draw them from dark horrid
places they may be …
God is
all about extending righteousness and justice to all not just for the select
few … God is far bigger than our understanding, and instead of pouting like
Jonah, we are invited to behold the majesty and awe that comes with the full
and total repentance of a people like those in Ninevah … and that is the
ultimately lesson for all of us …
Let us pray …
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