Sermon for June 18th, 2017

Jonah 2:1-10

1 From the belly of the fish he (Jonah) prayed to Yahweh, his God; and he said:

2 Out of my distress I called upon Yahweh, And he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice. 3 You cast me into the abyss, into the heart of the sea, and the flood was all about me. All your waves, your billows washed over me.

4 And I said: I am cast out of the sight of your eyes. How shall I behold again your holy Temple? 5 The waters surrounded me even to my throat, the abyss encompassed me. The seaweed was wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down into the countries beneath the earth, to the peoples of the past. (I descended into a region whose bars were shut upon me for ever) But you raised up my life from the pit, Yahweh, my God.

7 While my soul was fainting within me, I remembered Yahweh, And my prayer came before you into your holy Temple. 8 Those who serve worthless idols forfeit the grace that was theirs.

9 But I with song of praise will sacrifice to you. The vow I have made, I will fulfil. From Yahweh comes salvation.

10 And Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the shore.

Jonah: From the Belly of the Whale

The NRSV, as well as the translation I used today (and most translations, to be honest) have Jonah speaking to us from the belly of a "big fish" rather than a whale. But to be fair, in the ancient world, there wasn't really a solid distinction between mammalian and non-mammalian aquatic creatures. If you saw a whale, you'd probably call it a big fish.

So on that basis, I feel reasonably justified in telling you some very juvenile "whale jokes" today:

Why did the whale cross the road? To get to the other tide.

What do whales eat? Fish and ships.

How are a dog and a marine biologist alike? One wags a tail and the other tags a whale.

Fact: Did you know that a blue whale is so long, if it were laid out lengthwise on a football field, the game would totally have to be cancelled?

How do you make a whale float? With root beer, ice cream and a whale?

Meanwhile, back to our tale. The second chapter of the book of Jonah, unlike the other three chapters, is poetry. And it often gets skipped over, or summarized by simply saying, "Jonah repented."

But first, a detour through the Psalms:

Save me, O God, for the waters are rising up to my neck. I am drowning in the murky depths, with no place to stand; I am in deep water, and the flood sweeps over me. Ps. 69:1–2

I call out to You . . . above the beat of your waters, as all Your waves and breakers sweep over me . . . Ps. 42:6–8

You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and You overwhelm me with all Your waves. Ps. 88:6–7