Holy Prophet Jonah

by William Hart McNichols

Title

Holy Prophet Jonah

Artist

William Hart McNichols

Medium

Drawing - Acrylic On Wood

Description

Holy Prophet Jonah
“One of Daniel Berrigan’s best works, Minor Prophets, Major Themes, offers poetic insightful commentary on the books of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachai… The author takes these often neglected prophetic works and shows how they speak to us with even greater urgency… pushing us to become a prophetic people…There is simply no other commentary like it.”
From the book’s second printing

Simply no other commentary like it … is a description for so many of Dan’s works. No one except a true prophet, like Dan or Rabbi Heschel, could write about them with such interior knowledge, empathy and with the greatest depth of understanding.
Rabbi Heschel states that the amount of grief and anger we feel over the anguished places in our world, takes on cosmic proportions inside the prophet.
Their staggering burden is to carry the weight of the pathos of God the Creator. And Jonah, like many of the prophets resisted his call, but unlike any of them, he out and out fled. The Book of Jonah is only 4 chapters. We witness his call at the very beginning of chapter 1 :
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come before me. But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord…’
Jonah finds a ship and thinks he can escape his call, but the sailors on the ship become aware something is terribly wrong as violent storms lash the ship and threaten all their lives. Someone carries a curse, Jonah is exposed and over he goes only to be swallowed by a big fish. It’s in the belly of the fish Jonah begs forgiveness and is vomited out “Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.” You all know that joke that goes, do you want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.
Nineveh is so large it takes 3 days to walk across, and Jonah preaches repentance and is successful, they repent. But this does not fit Jonah’s plan and he would much rather they be destroyed. In one of the most poignant portraits of the God of the prophets, God says Jonah, you wanted them all destroyed not even thinking of the countless innocent women and children, and even, the animals. It’s a most telling and compassionate unveiling of the tenderness of God, the God we often judge in the Hebrew Bible to be a God of wrath and erratic judgment. This is a powerful lesson to all of us who carry grudges and wish God was on the side of punishment concerning our enemies, not the God of Infinite Forgiveness and Divine Mercy.
I love Jonah for his obvious petty, vindictive and warped humanity, because we all have these moments. God reminds him of the vast scope of his vengeance and Jonah is rightfully chastened. Jesus would say become perfect like your Heavenly Father whose sun shines on the bad and good, and leave the judgment to the Heavenly Father. I think especially in our later years, we are invited to continue the process of forgiveness.
Dan wrote this unforgettable book on the minor prophets around 1994 and asked me to provide an icon for the cover. Because of his deadline I could only offer the drawing for the icon (based on an actual Russian icon) and never got to actually paint it, but I love the way Jonah is depicted in this drawing carrying the large scroll, the word of the Lord, symbolizing his heavy call, weighing him down.

“As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came unto You … I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to You; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord.”
Jonah 2: 7-9

“I want you to be the Apostle of my Goodness and Mercy. I will teach you what that means; forget yourself.”
Jesus to Sister Josefa Menendez
24 February 1921

Fr William Hart McNichols 💮 July 2024

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July 18th, 2024

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