The Jonah Cycle
Basic Info
Book of Jonah
In the Gospel of Matthew (12:37–41), in answer to a request from the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus likens Jonah’s 3 days in the fish to the 3 days he will spend in the earth. God called Jonah to prophesy to the Ninevites about repenting or facing destruction. Jonah didn’t want this task and tried to run away. He took a ship in the other direction. The ship was being tossed about in a storm. The sailors couldn’t figure out why until they used their own fortune-telling tools and discovered that Jonah was the reason for the storm. They knew he was ducking God. They confronted him, he admitted it, and with his agreement, they threw him into the sea. Jonah was swallowed whole by a big fish, lived in the belly of the fish for 3 days (where he prayed to God), and was spit up onto a beach. He went on to preach repentance to the Ninevites. They listened and were saved from destruction.
Thus, early Christians especially, read the Jonah story as a sign of Jesus’ death and Resurrection. Images of Jonah under the vine of gourds (after convincing the Ninevites to repent) were taken as a sign of the slumber that one would experience between death and the Last Judgment.
Historical Notes
In the days of the early Church, when persecution and martyrdom were common, the Jonah story was extremely popular in Christian art. Then at the time Christianity became legal under Constantine (early 300s) it went out of fashion.
What to Look For
- Whole Jonah story or just one part
- The storm and chaos before throwing Jonah overboard
- Jonah’s attitude toward being thrown overboard to save his shipmates
- The big fish
- Jonah inside the fish praying
- Jonah being spit out by the fish
- Jonah dozing contentedly under the vine of gourds after Nineveh has repented and been spared
Questions to Focus a General Interpretation
Which details of the Jonah story does the artwork emphasize? Which aspect of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ do those details correspond with—the chaos of human sinfulness, the willingness to be harmed for the sake of others, the 3 days of being removed from life, or the new life in paradise?
Does the artwork seem to be about the details, or is it presented as a simple reminder of a story that is expected to be richly present at the forefront of the minds of all Christians viewing the work?
Questions to Guide a Personal Interpretation
Does the artwork call to mind your being swallowed up by something in your own life? Were / are you able to trust that there would / will be new life afterward?
Does the artwork call to mind a time when you were the one to bring chaos to your “shipmates”? Were you willing to be tossed into the water to save the others?
Is this symbolic artwork enough to remind you of the details of, and reasons for, the Paschal Mystery?
Questions to Suggest a Historical Interpretation
What was going on in the artist’s time and place that might have influenced which part of the Jonah story was emphasized?
