In the Belly of the Fish

In previous blogs I looked at how Jonah was thrown into the sea from the boat he had boarded to try and flee from what God was calling him to do. The Lord arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah and he was inside of it for three days and three nights. I also explored some aspects of the images that this story evokes. There is another crucial image that I want to look at now. As I lived with the image of Jonah being thrown into the sea I was reminded of the sacramental Rite of Baptism.

When I asked the Lord to give me insight into this image I was led to read the story of Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to speak to Jesus at night. (Pointing to him doing it surreptitiously, so that it would not be obvious to those who knew him)(John 3:1-13). He acknowledged Jesus as a teacher who had come from God because of the public miracles that he had performed. (He rightly surmised that only someone sent by God could perform such miraculous acts.) Jesus got right to the heart of the matter by throwing out a provocative statement: “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus was bemused and asked how someone could go back into his mother’s womb and be born again. In reply Jesus said, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit” (My emphasis). Jesus went on to say that humans can only give birth to human life, but the Holy Spirit gives life from heaven. He also said that just as you can hear the wind blow but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit. Jesus was clearly indicating that this was a mystery and needed to be treated as such.

 Nicodemus then asked what Jesus meant by this. In reply Jesus chided him for being a respected Jewish teacher and not understanding this. He told Nicodemus that if he could not believe him about this that happened on earth how could he believe him if Jesus told him about what would happen in heaven. Jesus said that he was speaking about what he knew, for only he had come to earth and would return to heaven again.

Meditating on this I was reminded that ‘being born of water and the Spirit’ was reflected in the Rite of Baptism. The water here represented being washed clean. The imagery of Scripture has layers of meaning. In a previous blog I showed how the water of the sea had represented a chaotic situation over which I had no control. That same water had the effect of washing me clean because it linked me to the experience of Baptism. I recalled the words from the Rite of Baptism: “Buried with Christ, raised to newness of life!”  This gives expression to what the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans in 6:3-4, “Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

The image of Jonah being thrown into the sea and being swallowed by a fish pointed forward to both the death and resurrection of Jesus on the one hand, and on the other, the Sacrament of Baptism that would mirror it.

In Jonah 2:2, whilst in the belly of the fish, Jonah reflecting on what he has been through said:  “I sank beneath the waves, and death was very near. The waters closed in and around me, and seaweed wrapped itself around my head.” (What a powerful image!!) He went on to say in verse 6: “I was locked out of life and imprisoned in the land of the dead. But you, O Lord have snatched me

from the yawning jaws of death!”  Throughout his ordeal Jonah was kept alive by the Holy Spirit. Yet, while he did not experience a physical death, some kind of death did take place. It was the death of a destructive state of being. Through this he experienced a shift in attitude within himself. It was however not something he freely chose; it had to happen to him to bring it about.

Turning to Jesus, I saw that he was put to death on a wooden cross and his body was placed into a tomb which was in the form of a cave (much like the form of a womb). This mirrored Jonah being in the belly of the fish. Another obvious link between the two images is that they both remained in their respective wombs, awaiting re-birth, three days and three nights.

I saw that both the images of Jonah and of Jesus represented death. However, in both cases there was an experience of re-birth.  It was the Holy Spirit that gave them new life. They were re-born of the Holy Spirit. They both experienced transformation, but of different types. In the case of Jonah he experienced a transformation of attitude; from resistance to compliance. He had been running away from what the Lord had been calling him to. However, after his ordeal the Lord caused the fish to deliver Jonah to the shore closest to where Nineveh was. This time Jonah decided to carry out his calling.

Looking at Jesus, he was compliant to his calling out of free choice. Jonah had resisted bringing a message of repentance to Nineveh because he knew that if the people chose to do so then God would have mercy on them and not destroy them. He was trapped in the attitudes of fear and hatred towards the Ninevites that were endemic to his social group. In contrast Jesus knew that members of his own social group were going to torture and kill him, yet he chose to give his own life so that his Father would have mercy on them, and all of humanity;  sparing them from destruction. The re-birth that Jesus experienced was that of resurrection from death, to eternal life. He also received a transformed body. In doing this he paved the way for all of humanity to follow, if they believed in Him. He also broke the power of death over all of humanity. This is clearly expressed in John3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”

The death and resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of the Good News of the Kingdom of God. It highlights the paradox inherent in spiritual reality. The Son of God being put to death by men was the very worst thing that could happen in history; yet it brought about the very best outcome for all mankind. The linkage that is apparent with the story of Jonah in the Hebrew Scriptures showed me that the Jonah story provides an essential pattern of spiritual transformation.

Some questions for reflection:

* Can you recognize the connection between the story of Jonah and the death and resurrection of Jesus?

*Does this story speak to anything in your own life?

* How do respond to what you hear?