Excerpt from Jonah 2:1-10

"Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land."

Reflection by Christina Villa

Jonah in the belly of the whale is one of the top Bible stories non-religious people bring up as an example of the absurdity of the Bible. In their view, you have two choices with the Bible.  You either believe it is literal truth or you think it’s all a fairy tale.  And if you think the belly of the whale is actually a metaphor for something else, you aren’t really religious anyway, you're an English major.  

I like the metaphor way of understanding the Bible, because I was an English major.  But sometimes I feel trapped in that understanding, just as I would feel trapped by a requirement to take it literally. Thinking of the Bible as mainly metaphor can make it seem like a big book of coded stories whose meanings need to be deciphered with the de-coder ring of education.

When my father was in his 60's, he told me that he regretted never having been able to "understand" classical music the way he "understood" Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie.  Years later, in his 80's, he called me up to say he'd just been to Border's where they had a fantastic sale on classical CD's—just  $3 each!  Incredible! So he bought three of them and listened to one in the car—and loved it.  

Maybe it was the $3 deal that made him think classical music wasn't so intimidating after all, but for whatever reason, he stopped worrying about how to understand it and just let the music come out of the dashboard at him.  

This would be a great way to take in the Bible, it seems to me.  Don't get trapped in the maze of having to account for every absurdity, on the one hand, or come up with a metaphorical meaning for everything on the other.  Don't worry that you don't "understand" it.  Just let it come out of the dashboard at you.

Prayer

Dear God, You who invented Count Basie, thank you for bringing Mozart to my Dad.  Let us not be intimidated and free us from fear of inadequacy.  Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

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