The Book of Jonah is a very short book
in the Hebrew Bible, only 4 chapters. The four chapters contain a story of
moving from death to life in the life of Jonah and the city of Ninavah. Jesus updates the story under
the title of “The Sign of Jonah.”
More important, John’s Gospel begins
with “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” I take that to mean the Word
through words continues to dwell in the flesh of our unique daily stories.
I have a story.
As a hospital chaplain many years ago I had the privilege of seeing the story of Jonah and Jesus relived with a
patient. A man after open-heart surgery is non compliant with the recovery
procedures. He is staying in bed not wanting to move. His wife is feeding him
instead of him feeding himself. He is headed in the direction of becoming a
cardiac cripple.
The nurses on the cardiac step down
unit sent me a referral to visit. The visit begins in a relaxed manner. We are
getting acquainted. He is open and friendly. Then he begins complaining about
various things including the food. Not eating is not like him. He has always
been an eater. Now his appetite is gone. Hunger has vanished. Discovering
himself to be complaining he says, "I don't know why I am complaining to
you." I say, "You can complain about anything you want." I gave
him permission as wide as the barn door and he runs with it.. "Why
is there so much pain in the world anyway?" "You must have had a lot
of pain?" says I, going with his lead. "I didn't know there was so
much pain. When I woke up from the surgery I was one ball of pain. And the only
word that came to my mind was Jonah." Now there is an interesting remark.
I have only heard a story like his one time in all my years as a chaplain. Every story has some unique aspect.
I am on the track of an Aha! He has
given me the clue word to explore. “What do you know about Jonah?” He gives me
a Sunday School answer with fish, swallowed, etc. I ask if I can tell him something about Jonah. Permission
granted. “Jonah is the symbol of coming back to life. Jesus uses the
expression, ‘Sign of Jonah’. It has reference to death and resurrection.” His eyes are wide open now and he is
attentive. He has been to the burning bush. Only this time the call to new life
came in the words "a ball of pain" and the word "Jonah." We
have a few more words in our conversation and I conclude with a blessing.
Later in the day I pass the nursing
station and they want to know what we talked about. I said, "Jonah."
They were not interested in following up on that. They tell me that after I
left he decided to get up and start walking. He started feeding himself. A friend
of his wife told me the next day the wife was appreciative of my stopping by.
Since he had a Church with several Pastors I did not stop in again. I had been
the called one alongside for the Word to do the work of healing and
reconciling. My work was to move
on the other territories equally renewed by the Word and the metaphorical
dynamics of the Holy Spirit.
Shalom,
Marlin Whtimer,
Retired Chaplain
Founder of the Befrienders in 1966 and
the art of story metaphor listening.
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