In the previous blog I wrote about my two heart attacks and
my business collapsing, along with the strong awareness I had that taken
together these had been a ‘Jonah experience’. This led me to look at the Old
Testament story of Jonah to see how it spoke into the reality I found myself
in.
To paraphrase the
first chapter of the Book of Jonah we see that Jonah, who was a prophet, was
sent to the city of Nineveh to announce God’s judgment against it. However,
Jonah chose to flee in the opposite direction and boarded a boat in Joppa bound
for Tarshish (probably in south-west Spain).
The ship encountered a
violent storm that was life threatening to all on board. The crew panicked and
cried out to their gods for protection. The crew members were shocked to
discover Jonah asleep in the ships hold, seemingly unperturbed. He was woken up
and told to pray to his god for mercy. They also cast lots to discover who had
offended the gods and caused this storm. Jonah lost the toss and was asked what
he had done to provoke the storm. He was also questioned about who he was.
Jonah replied that he was a Hebrew who worshipped the Lord, God of heaven, who
made the sea and the land. He said that the storm resulted from him running
away from the Lord.
Jonah was asked what
could be done to stop the storm. He told them that since he had caused the
storm they should throw him overboard to calm the sea. At first they were
reluctant but when the turbulence got worse they asked pardon from God for
taking Jonah’s life and threw him overboard. As soon as this took place the sea
immediately grew calm. Thereafter Verse 16 says: “The sailors were awestruck by
the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him”.
Following this we are told that the Lord arranged for a great fish to swallow
Jonah; and he remained inside it for three days and three nights.
This story raised many questions and confronted me with
mystery on various levels. How could I make sense of this story? Was this
merely a mythical story with some kind of moral meaning that I needed to grasp
and apply? Was this a factual, historical account of a real person who was engaging
in a relationship with God? How was he able to dialogue with God? Was God
actively involved in the events of his life? Was God able to control and manipulate
physical elements such as wind and water; as well as cause a huge fish to
function at his bidding? How could Jonah stay alive for three days in the belly
of the fish?
In my younger years I had obtained a BA degree in Social
Science and was trained to view reality through rationalistic and secular
lenses. My studies in psychology, sociology and philosophy were valuable and
useful; but limited in scope. They precluded entertaining any notions of
mystery and mystical reality. Within that frame of reference it was not
possible. In Western society we live in a largely disenchanted universe.
In spite of this I
did accept mystical reality; the reality of God; as well as relationship and
dialogue with God. Mysticism can be understood as awareness of a reality beyond
the apparent reality we find ourselves in. Given this definition I am a mystic.
Moreover, I know many living people who share that perception of reality and we
follow in the footsteps of thousands upon thousands who have lived before us
who did so as well. The question is how can I believe this given my
aforementioned background knowledge from my rationalistic studies? The answer
is that it came about through many personal encounters with God and the
experience of intimate dialogue. How I initially came to know God is a story
for another time. What I want to say here is that my awareness of the reality
of God was progressively taken hold of through a long period of struggle (some
thirty five years), and did not happen overnight. I had come to ‘know’ God
through this at a deep level of being, rather than just ‘know about God’. There
is a big difference. Religion and
religious studies deal with the latter; in this blog I am focusing on the
former. When the Lord chose to be present to me in ICU I had no doubt about who
I was relating to. It is a knowing that goes beyond my rational faculties; indeed a knowing that is radically at odds with how my education taught me to view the
world. I have to hold the two in tension.
Over the centuries much ink has been splashed across paper
debating what creature swallowed Jonah. The Hebrew text was non-specific,
referring only to a ‘great fish’. The consensus was that it had to have been a
whale. To my mind one can get tied up in conjectural knots and miss the
ultimate point. There is mystery at work here, pointing to mystical reality. If
we are dealing with the God who, in Jonah’s words, “made land and sea”, then
anything is possible. If God created the natural order and laws of
nature, then God can choose to bend the rules and do something different. This
God could also keep Jonah alive for three days in the belly of the fish.
Here are some questions for you to reflect on:
- How do you respond to what you have read about the story of Jonah thus far?
- At what level are you able to embrace mystery?
- Who is God for you?
- Have you experienced intimacy with God?
- How do you respond to my experience?
- How do you deal with the tension between your awareness of mystical reality and your rational education in the midst of the prevailing secular ethos of Western society?
John, I am in awe. To me God is an ever present force living inside of me .... I am reluctant to write further as your questions are really deep but and I feel that my answers might not be received with honour and love as we all experience God differently - this is indeed the mystery hey... GOD IS ABLE TO TO BE SO MUCH MORE TO SO MANY ..... to me God is me... I am created in God's image AND the greatest secret that I have ever learnt in the last couple years is this: GOD CHOSE TO MAKE MY HEART IS HOME. Thank you for the courage to share and for enabling me to SHARE.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Ros.I believe that God does relate to each of us in a unique way. My journey has shown me that we are created in the image of God; and God is indeed within us as you point out (immanent),but at the same time is also 'transcendent'- outside of us and beyond anything we can can imagine. That is part of the mystery and paradox of God.It's difficult to grasp and hold those two realities at the same time.
ReplyDeleteHi John, I'm enjoying your exploration of Christian mysticism and paradox, thanks for writing and sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Marcus.As Ros mentioned, we are created in the image of God, but we turn that around and try to create God in our image.
DeleteWe also try to define God and put God in a box with a neat label on it.
Defining anything is attempting to control it. We cannot control the Lord, who is beyond anything we can imagine.