As you know, I often like to include all kinds of literature in my Sermons to make my preaching both current and relatable.
This Sunday I will refrain from that though. I will not include any odd story in my Sermon. Because today’s Old Testament Reading brings us one of the very best stories ever told. The Story of Jonah and the Whale.
I want to talk about that story today.
The Story of Jonah and the Whale is a great story. Also, it is well known as it is easy to depicture. Anyone who has heard the story can almost see Jonah sitting there – in the belly of the whale.
Aside from the lovely picture the story gives us, it is a story full of a deeper meaning and beautiful Hebrew poetry which adds to its popularity.
In today’s Old Testament Reading, the part of the story we heard was from the very climax of the story. The point where Jonah is caught in the belly of the whale.
The whale in Ancient Hebrew cosmology is to be understood as the place furthest away from life you can get. It is as close to death one can get without dying.
The reason for this is that Ancient Hebrew cosmology is built up around the Temple in Jerusalem. In the Temple, God resides, making it the centerpiece of the entire world.
This is why you always in the Bible walks ‘up’ to Jerusalem when you approach the city, and the reason you always walk ‘down’ from Jerusalem when you are walking away from the xity. So, it is whether the actual roads lead you up or down.
Walking ‘down’ from Jerusalem, one gets further and further away from God. And ultimately one will reach water. A seemingly untamable substance that has cost many good sailors their lives.
Water is the power that brought death to all but Noah and those who sailed with him. Hence, water is not to be approached lightly. So, it is in Ancient Hebrew cosmology
This is the reason Jesus picked many of his disciples among Sailors: To demonstrate how he associated himself with those working with the most chaotic and despised of jobs.
This is why Jesus at a time in the New Testament tamed the seemingly untamable water: To demonstrate how he was in control of chaos. Something that ultimately points towards how he even was in control of death.
Back to Jonah, this is the place he got caught. Furthest away from the Temple. Furthest away from life. At a place where only thing one can do is to ask God to bring back life.
The reason Jonah ended up in this place is told in the part of the story prior to the passage I read for you earlier. By God Jonah was told to visit a city, Nineve, and tell them how they all were to die do to all the sin that was committed within the city.
Jonah refused to do this. And for two very good reasons: First, by coming with such a message he kind of foresaw that people in the city would not like him. And he did not want to bring hatred upon himself due to God acting out. God should go tell the people himself
Second, Jonah kind of foresaw that God would not punish the entire city anyway. Somehow, God would show mercy. After all, following the incident with Noah God had promised humanity not to act in a similar way ever again.
(And here I refrain from mentioning Sodoma, Gomorra, and Raka and what God did to those cities).
Anyway, after refusing God’s command, Jonah fled. And naturally he fled to the place furthest away from God. The water.
Here he thought he was somehow safe. But he was not. God brought Jonah further away from him. Further to death. He had Jonah thrown overboard and swallowed by a whale.
And from inside the whale Jonah prays the prayer that I read for you earlier. A prayer full of beautiful Hebrew poetry. And a prayer full of images of the Ancient Hebrew Cosmology that I have told you about in my sermon so far:
“From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help… the very heart of the seas… I will look again toward your holy temple… you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit…
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
After being saved, Jonah travels to Nineve. After all, the fear he experienced in the whale was bigger than his fear of telling the people of Nineve of their doom.
Arriving in the city, the people of Nineve did not act as Jonah expected. They did not blame him – the messenger. Rather they turned. Turned away from their former life in sin and asked God of forgiveness.
And so, God forgave the people of Nineve. Just as Jonah had predicted to begin with.
Many people believe the story ends with this. But actually, follows a hilarious part of the Story. A part where Jonah once again gets a little upset on God.
Why? Well, Jonah was right all the time. God would not punish Nineve. Why then did he have to go through all this turmoil? This thought is what makes him upset.
In his anger, Jonah makes a hut outside the city where he tells God just to get rid of him. It was all to nothing he thought.
Then God teases Jonah. First, God makes a tree grow in a day behind Jonah casting a shadow upon him. Now this is nice, Jonah thinks, then the sun will not burn me. Next day, God destroys the tree.
I have always loved this part of the story. Too me, it shows how God sometimes have a rather childish rational. And why would he not?
Anyway, why does God do this. Well, first, as Jonah mourns the destruction of the tree, God does this to teach Jonah a lesson: You mourn my destruction of the tree, but you are not happy that I saved the city of Nineve. How can this be, God asks.
I believe this tendency of mourning more than praising, this tendency of complaining more than giving thanks, is not only one found in Jonah.
No, all of us probably have that feature to a more or less degree. That is why God kind of makes fun of it by being a little childish.
Another point found in the ending relates to today’s two other readings:
Faith – confession – is more than words. It is a fire. A huge fire that can save our souls. From death, from the belly of the whale.
In the same way, disbelief – blasphemy – is more than words. It is a fire. A huge fire that can tare the whole world apart.
Let us appreciate God. Not by trying to understand him or making sense of whatever – to humans – non-sense and childish things he does.
Rather, let us gather in prayer – in worship – and appreciate God for all that is good. For all hope he restores in our troubled lives.
That is the meaning. Those are the two lessons to draw from the story. The story of Jonah and the Whale.
Amen.