Fish or Whale?

Reflections on Jonah 1:172:10

“Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish, He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the dead, and Lord, you heard me!” Jonah 1:17-2:2

I was approached by one of the residences in the health facility I now work, struggling with a question he had in mind for years. He wondered if it was true that the Prophet Jonah was swallowed by a whale and what did this really mean for our lives?

First I had to correct what animal Jonah had been swallowed. If you recall every Vacation Bible School that talked about Jonah always mentioned it was a whale. Yes, he agreed. But the Bible said it was a big fish. He frowned. Going on to mention the Jewish people’s dietary laws, a whale has no scales, a fish does. Again another frown. Because the Old Testament part of the Bible has many parts of Jewish history a fish having scales makes it Kosher, so an unkosher whale could not have swallowed the prophet; because that would be unbelievable. After another frown, I said, “Even with a big fish it is unbelievable, but God is God and can do whatever he wants.”

The whole point of the Book of Jonah is to bring a reluctant prophet to do what God intends him to do. God wanted Jonah to proclaim God’s love to the people of Nineveh, who didn’t want to hear his word of promise. Jonah wanted to see the people destroyed, so he ran away from God. Tossed into the sea when it was found he was running from God, a big fish swallowed him and for three days and nights, he prayed to God for deliverance. When the fish released Jonah, he proclaimed God’s word to the people of Nineveh seeing God’s mercy in action.

After another frown, my friend said, “So what does this story of Jonah mean for our lives?” Everyone who aligns their lives with God’s work at times becomes reluctant. We do our best but fail most of the time. We think we need to do everything ourselves, but we don’t. We are reminded that when Jesus died on the cross, he spent three days and nights in the tomb just like Jonah did; he gave us new life and purpose knowing that God is in control of everything in life. So being reluctant no more, we experience the power of his Holy Spirit in our daily lives. We emerge a new person, seeing God’s work in the world, being reluctant no more.

Dear Lord, I have been reluctant in my work of sharing your word of love with all people. Some people you send me too, I don’t like, but you love them. Bring me to rejoice with everyone when they understand your love for them. Amen.