The Process of Transformation

When Jonah was thrown into the sea and spent three days in the belly of the fish it changed him. It impacted upon him in a powerful, transforming way. There is nothing like a near-death experience to have this kind of effect on a person. Trust me; I have had two significant heart attacks in which I have looked death in the face. It had the result of opening my eyes to see, and very quickly clarify, what is important and what is just useless baggage to let go of. It helped me to distinguish between what was froth and that which was essential to drink in order to sustain me, and give me life.

As I shared in my previous blog the effect this experience had on Jonah was to change him from being resistant to becoming compliant. As I read the rest of the story however, it became clear to me that whilst Jonah was compliant he was still a very reluctant participant. He went kicking and screaming to do what the Lord was calling him to do. Yet, despite his reluctance, when he preached to the people of Nineveh and called them to repentance they responded positively; from the least to the king. The king sent messages out to the people to fast and pray to God for mercy; and to turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence (Jonah 3: 6-9). There was a communal, whole- hearted change in their attitudes and behaviour. The Lord in turn responded by having mercy on them and did not carry out his threat to destroy them.

What was Jonah’s response? He was upset and became very angry because he was hoping that God would wipe out the Ninevites, who were the historic enemies of Israel (the national group that Jonah was a member of). In 4:4 it says that after Jonah had complained to God about this, the Lord replied, “Is it right to be angry about this?”

Meditating on this a few realities emerged. The first was that the Lord used Jonah to bring about change and transformation in a whole city in spite of his reluctance and bad attitudes; and not because Jonah was a ‘perfect saint’. It is evident from the story that this was far from the reality Jonah found himself in. Likewise, I have come to see that if the Lord has in any way used me to touch the lives of other people it is not because I am a perfect saint with the right attitudes; far from it. I sit here writing this blog because I have had two near- death experiences; and have undergone a process of change and transformation. This has happened to me; I did not choose it. I too have reached this place resisting, protesting, kicking and screaming. Moreover, I recognize that there is still a lot of change and transformation that needs to take place within me. If what I have to say touches you in any way it is because of the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit; not because I ‘have arrived’ and have the answers. 

The second awareness I had was that when Jonah had been questioned about his identity he had replied that he was firstly, a Hebrew; and secondly, that he worshipped the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. The problem lay in the order in which he identified himself. His first priority was his identity in terms of his social group. He was first and foremost a ‘Hebrew’. The needs, aspirations and security of his social group took precedence above everything else. What the Lord was doing in him was working to reverse that order of identity. His first priority needed to be to identify himself in relationship with God. That was his true and ultimate identity. He had to be set free from his connection to his social group as the primary source of his identity. Only then could he fully be who the Lord created him to be and stand free from the mould that his society had formed him in. He would then be able to perceive a higher and more expansive reality. Only then could the Lord effectively use him to mediate the grace of God.

This awareness connects with what it means to live a Christian way of life. A central theme of the public ministry of Jesus was to teach about the ‘Kingdom of God’. The thrust of a Christian spiritual journey is to progressively live more fully in the Kingdom of God; of which Jesus is the king. It is all about who is in control. Is Jesus or my social group in control?  As I showed in my previous blog the only way to enter this kingdom is to be ‘born again’ of water and the Spirit (John 3: 5). It involves starting again and living in a completely different way. It necessitates taking on a new identity; one that is rooted and grounded in Christ and not in my social group. I have come to progressively take my primary identity from being a child of God and not from being a member of my social group.

This brings me to my third realization, that it is not about being religious. You would be hard pressed to find a more religious society than the one which had formed Jonah. Yet, despite their religiosity they got it horribly wrong. Their attitudes were grounded in their own vested interests and they could therefore not see the big picture which God had in mind, to extend his grace beyond the confines of their own social group. I have been forced to look beyond my own security and needs; as well as those of my society.

 Fourthly, what I discovered was that this process has been difficult because old habits die hard. I have had to unlearn patterns of thinking and behaving that have become very entrenched within me over a long period of time. I recognize that is why something extraneous has had to impact on me to shake me out of my comfort zone to enable me to perceive a new reality. I cannot change myself, only God can; and he has used my altered, traumatic, circumstances to do so.  I have also come to see that because of the entrenched nature of my old ways of thinking, believing and acting this change has to take place through an extended process and won’t happen overnight.

The final point is that looking at the story of Jonah, my own experience, and the experiences of many other people, it does not seem as though there is any real change and transformation without some form of suffering taking place. Something radical has to happen to shift a person’s perception of reality. The Franciscan priest Richard Rohr contends that we experience as suffering anything where   we do not have control. I am inclined to agree with him. This suffering can take many forms ranging from physical through mental, emotional and spiritual. As long as we are in control our attempts at change remain ‘ego projects’; which may change the face we present to the world, but do not transform us at any significant depth of being. Real transformation only seems to take place where we are not in control of what happens to us; as in the case of Jonah.

Questions for reflection:

·         Can you think of a difficult experience where you did not have control?

·         In light of what you have read here has your perception of that experience changed at all?

·          What is the Lord inviting you to?

·         How do you respond to this?