Imagery Of Jonah Story

The stories we find in scripture often have layers of meaning. They contain images that can be interpreted on different levels. As I lived with the first chapter of the story of Jonah the images that were contained in it took on various meanings.

The story speaks about Jonah being ‘asleep’ in the hold of the boat while the storm raged to everyone else’s consternation except his own.  The state of being ‘asleep’ seems to me to be a metaphor for being in a state of denial. The hold of a boat is usually dark and dank and is where the baggage is kept. Reflecting on this gave me a picture of Jonah being cut off from both his surroundings and his inner darkness; and unable to deal with the baggage of his past. Yet despite being cut off from it, this baggage still impacted on him and caused him to resist God and run away.

 Each person has been affected and wounded by their past and is carrying baggage of different types. This baggage is buried within them- in their ‘inner darkness’. The baggage ranges from emotional wounds to distorted perceptions of reality (illusions). The emotional wounds vary in type and degree from person to person. Unfortunately some people are ‘taken out' by the degree of wounding; and it is difficult for those wounds to heal. The illusions that people carry are either taken on from their society or social group; or from their own individual response to their life experiences. They therefore perceive things in a distorted way. This baggage hinders the person from fully being who the Lord created them to be; and from positively responding to what they hear God calling them to do.

In the Jonah story the storm (chaos he found himself in) and the intervention of those he was with together conspired to wake him up to the reality he was in. His companions confronted him with two things that he needed to address. Firstly, he had to own and take responsibility for the reality of his life situation. This was the first step towards moving out of the state of denial he had been in. The second was that they asked him who he was. He had to seriously look at his identity. He responded to this by identifying himself on two levels. He saw himself firstly as being “A Hebrew”, i.e. a member of a social group. He also secondly claimed to worship the Lord, i.e. he was in relationship with a transcendent God.

 Jonah needed to know who he was in order to be able to respond to the situation he found himself in. When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let God’s people go, the first question Moses asked was: “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and tell him this?” The Lord had to assure Moses that He was with him and was sending him. Likewise Jonah needed to be secure in his identity in order to undertake the task he was being sent to perform.

I realized that I too needed to know who I am and be secure in my identity before I could do what I sensed the Lord was calling me to. My spiritual journey had taught me that ‘Being’ is primary to ‘Doing.’ I need to know who I am before I can engage in ‘doing’ with any authenticity. The doing has to flow out of my being.

 In the Jonah story this was followed by his commitment to sacrifice himself to alleviate the plight of those he was with. He was then thrown into the sea. As I lived with this I came to see that Jonah had to choose to move out of the darkness of the hold he was sleeping in, as well as his state of being weighed down by and trapped in the baggage he carried. Once he did this he was “thrown into the sea”. This was an image for me of extraneous circumstances being at work to bring him into a situation over which he had no control. In order for him to be set free it had to be done to him. The crucial issue was that if he was doing it himself, it would not have been an authentic process leading to change and transformation. There are many self-help books, courses and programs around; which are effective to a point. Yet true ‘transformation of being’ needs to happen to us; we cannot be in control.

 The image of the sea has two dimensions for me. On the one hand it symbolizes a chaotic situation of huge proportions over which I have no control. On the other it has to do with the mysterious, dark inner depths of myself. This is a place that I avoid and do not voluntarily go to. I too have to be ‘thrown in’. I necessarily have to confront the ‘dark’ side of who I am before change and transformation can take place. I am aware that I will experience both the exterior chaos and interior anguish as forms of suffering.

When my business collapsed I was thrust into a chaotic sea over which I had no control. In the midst of this I had to deal with my loss, inner insecurity, doubt and fear. I experienced both of these external and internal realities as intense suffering. Yet I have come to see that this was ‘necessary suffering’ which was leading me to change and transformation. It was leading me to embrace a different state of being and allowed me to let go of many distorted perceptions of reality which had been crippling me. Without the process I have been through I would still have been clinging to them for dear life (or death??).

*Have you experienced situations that were chaotic and beyond your control?

*How did you respond to them?

*Did they change you in any way?

*Were you able to see God at work in them?