Advent: Week 3 Day 3

The Prophecy of Jonah



"...after three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, it cast Jonah up onto the shore..."

This one was actually mentioned by our Lord Himself: "Just as Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, the Son of Man must spend three days and three nights in the earth: and then rise..."

The artist (ahem! that's me) has intentionally chosen to show Jonah's uh, escape at sunrise - and (as I mentioned earlier) robed Him in red so as to symbolize our Lord.

Why red? It's kind of the "color" of the Sacred Heart, just as blue is Mary's color. (Oh, yes, I've heard that there was some long and tired commentary about how that blue thing is just from a poem - that's why I wrote a poem called "Why Mary Wears Blue" - if I did not post it yet, I'll do so eventually.) I am not sure why this particular prophecy, more than others, might make me ponder certain anatomical matters - unless it is due to the old fuss about whales not having big-enough gullets to swallow humans! But I am not going into fishy matters, but the Fish (Greek pun here, deferred to another day!)

This particular prophecy, I think, is an essential one for our Jesse Tree, primarily because Jesus Himself drew attention to it. Also because it makes a handy connection to the Resurrection - but also because the whale thereby takes its place in the Christmas menagerie - even though there are as yet no songs or poems or TV specials about a Christmas Whale. (Or should it be the Easter Whale!)