Some will say the Bible is full of either miraculous Leviathan-like whales or old wives’ tales. In other words, it is not really real, not factual, not rational—unbelievable. It is also replete with periodic warnings that are apocalyptic warnings that make us tremble. That is true, so if you need verifiable facts, clear answers, or proofs to secure your faith you may be disappointed. Likewise, if you become too frightened to act in love, you will simply freeze up for safety.
Nevertheless………………
When people turn to Scripture and use it to reflect on how they conduct their lives, they open up a major channel for discernment...This is not because the Bible necessarily provides the answers, but because it bears witness to how God has worked through people throughout history and it has a unique power to bring us into God’s presence.
(from Listening Hearts Ministries, 2021)
Scripture is replete with stories that evoke amazement. Life is like that when you pay attention to intimate details and allow them to cause your heart to glow with awe. Here’s a whale of a story for you. It was written by Sam Low in June, 2021, from Martha’s Vineyard, and entitled “Old Style.”
Low defines “Old Style” as “living in that unselfconscious communal way that was once the 'only style' on Martha’s Vineyard. And it's a way of life that still exists here. It’s about helping others, entertaining ourselves, appreciating what we have and how lucky we are to be alive on this special island.”
Although some people cringe at the thought of life on an island, where else could a female humpback whale witness to sacred truth?
She had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. This is her story of giving gratitude.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Faralon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so badly off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her…. a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.
When she was free, the divers say, she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, nudged them, and pushed gently, thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.
The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.
May you be so fortunate … May you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.”
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To be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you is a blessing.
One intriguing biblical story (John 11:33ff) is the one in which Jesus discovers that his very good friend Lazarus has died—a fact Jesus refuses to accept. Mourners have gathered, some complaining about Jesus’s absence. Where the heck was he when this tragedy happened? Jesus tells them to remove the stone from Lazarus’s tomb. Are you kidding? It’s been four days, and the stench will be horrendous. Without warning, the flow of the action is interrupted with a small teachy/preachy theological lecture, less likely the authentic words of Jesus, and more likely from the writer of this gospel: I told you if you believed you’d see the glory of God! Fortunately, the action quickly resumes. Jesus shouts to his friend to come out of the tomb. Lazarus does, pretty shabby looking with burial cloths dripping from his body and smelling worse than rotten fish. “Unbind him,” Jesus instructs the gathered crowd. “Let him go free.”
True? Believable? Threatening? I don’t know or care. The image of being unbound and freed of whatever stifles your embrace of grace, life, and faith is enough for me to stand in awe and wonder. I also imagine that the loving grace of God moved through Jesus’s own tears of love. It is the only direct emotion the Bible portrays in Jesus—openly loving and unconditional grief for his beloved friend.
So feel free to be moved to tears, and let them be your prayer.
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WHALE POWER—a gospel truth from another source
According to the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization to which we contribute, whales are crucial to our own survival as a planet fighting for its own life. The population of great whales in Earth’s oceans has plummeted more than two thirds, from an estimated 4-5 million in the days before commercial whaling.
Scientists have discovered a curious fact: this decline has also affected the climate. Whale waste feeds surface vegetation, which captures CO2 from the air and deposits it on the sea floor to be stored for millennia. It is carbon emissions that limit life sustaining Oxygen out! Our Earth has COPD—like me.
Just one more reason why these magnificent creatures should—must—be saved. One more reason to act in love.
