We are supposed to laugh when we read the book of
Jonah. It is intended to be both a
comedy and satire.
First,
we see the only protagonist who goes directly against God’s will. God asks Jonah to go to Nineveh and he
flees in the other direction. This
is meant to be comical. Next Jonah
gets on a boat with pagans, and they can recognize the storm as a punishment
from God for Jonah’s rebellion while he cannot. Then God grounds
Jonah—not by giving him a timeout or making him sit in his room—but by having
him swallowed by a fish. The
Israelites would have found this quite humorous indeed.
Our
first reading comes from when Jonah finally did go to Nineveh. In my mind, I picture this wallowing
prophet slinking around Nineveh half-heartedly saying “Repent” expecting nothing to happen. Indeed—Jonah goes outside the city to get a front row seat
to a fireworks show of sulpher and ashes over Nineveh. He continues to complain that he is
tired to the point of death, and after God takes away Jonah’s source of shade
he cries out, “It is better that I would die!” Overdramatic anyone?
And hilarious!
Many
scholars think Jonah is a fictional work.
And we are allowed to think this, so long as we recognize fiction in the
Scriptures always teaches truth.
Jesus himself refers to this text—“This
generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will
be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” If Jonah is fiction, I think this
teaching from Jesus is even more powerful. Jonah may not have been in a whale for
three days and three nights. Yet
Jesus points to Jonah to illustrate that he will
be in a tomb for the same time.
The
citizens of Nineveh reportedly converted with an explosion. “Something
greater than Jonah is here…” While
the story of Jonah may be fiction, the story of Christ is the truest event of
all time. How much more should we
convert more fully to Christ this Lent.
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