sign of jonah

Flannery O'Connor was asked why her people and plots in the fiction she wrote were often outlandish, even grotesque, and she answered, "To the hard of hearing you shout, for the almost blind you have to draw large and startling figures."

Is there anything more startling or grotesque or outlandish than a man emerging from that as dark as a whale's belly. The sign of Jonah was quite the startling reality as he climbed out of the whale's belly and began to proclaim to the people.

No wonder the entire city repented. They not only saw the sign they recognized it for its value and responded with all their heart.

Is there anything more grotesque, outlandish, startling?

Perhaps, only one other thing, a man emerging from the tomb much darker than the belly of the whale. This is more startling yet. Is this not the sign of Jesus, the man standing outside the tomb, wounded by death yet victorious.

God has a way of writing with startling realities as well.

Flannery O'Connor was simply writing like God reveals, with grotesque and outlandish plots and large and startling figures. God uses figures larger than life, grotesquely beautiful in order to shout at the deaf and startle the almost blind: there is something greater here.

No matter what we do in life, the figure of Christ standing outside the tomb, wounded but victorious, shall always shout through our deafness and brighten our blindness: something greater is here.