refusal to follow your destiny: jonah

In one of those psychological free association tests, if “Jonah” is said, most folk would respond “whale.”

And if queried, they might say that back in the days when God spoke to folk (and God still does except we are often making too much noise to hear), God told Jonah to go do something and he refused so God put him in solitary confinement inside the belly of a whale until he changed his mind.

So that’s the general understanding of Jonah, kind of a Walt Disney version. Everything turns out okay because Jonah obeyed the Great Parent In The Sky and ate his broccoli like a good boy.

Well….. The story is not exactly like that. It's more about a partnership than a parent.

You see, Jonah was a prophet and he and God had a deal. They understood each other pretty well. Most folk were too busy making a living and partying to pay any attention to God at all, but they would listen, at least for a moment, to another human who got in their face.

Jonah was God’s face man.

So one day God told Jonah, Things are getting out of hand with this human society and the hot spot of it all is over there in Nineveh: violence and lying and greed and such.

Go tell them to change their ways or they are headed for a sure downfall. They are calling down destruction on their own heads. So I’ll answer their prayers and oblige them.

Jonah got really mad. He wanted to see the bozos zapped. He didn’t want to give them a chance. He knew that if they saw the light, mended their ways, had an orthogonal turning of their minds and hearts and souls, God would forgive them and bless them on their way.

So he took off, went on the lam, refused to go. And the whole “whale” thing happened. Then Jonah walked over to Nineveh and told them.

And Jonah was right. Human society changed its ways and got off scot free. God forgave them. So here is where the worm comes in. Jonah got pissed, told God I told you so, said he might as well die.

After pitching his fit, Jonah built himself a little shelter outside society and sat down to see if the people might still screw up and get zapped. God and Jonah were still buddies, so God made a lovely gourd vine grow, shading Jonah with its large green leaves. And Jonah liked it and was happy.

The next day God allowed this worm to come and eat the plant, which withered and died. And Jonah just gave up. God asked, “Are you so deeply grieved about the plant?” Jonah: “Yes, so deeply grieved I want to die.”

“Hmmm…. That’s the way I feel about people,” said God. So rumor has it that God and Jonah are still in business. But now when they grieve, they grieve together.