Sermon - 1/24/21

<p>When my kids were in elementary school, each of them had to work on a Tall Tale project.  Tall Tales are narratives with fantastic, unbelievable, impossible elements, that tell a story as if the elements were true and factual.  Other tall tales have elements of truth but extreme exaggerations of actual events.  I remember my kids studied tales like Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and Johnny Appleseed. Then, they had to write their own tall tale which they made into a book.  It really was a lot of fun. </p> <p>Today, we get a tall tale from the Old Testament.  Quite honestly, when people read the book of Jonah, we find out what kind of readers they are – whether they are literalists <strong>or</strong> lovers of a story that is not factually true but communicates a much deeper truth.  And, the literalists lose out on this one.  The book of Jonah is a wildly funny, improbable, subversive story and, because we get only the middle part of this tale in today’s reading, I really need share with you the whole story. </p> <p>The first thing you need to know is that many theologians believe the story of Jonah is midrash, a practice in which Jewish rabbis would take a verse from scripture and expound upon it, tell a story to explain it, and give commentary regarding it.  Midrash commentaries were often humorous, and the story of Jonah has all these markings. The story of Jonah is likely midrash based on a verse from Joel, which Jonah later quotes in complaint. To set the context for this story, you should also know that Jonah’s people were part of ancient Israel…and Israel had this enemy called Assyria, the imperial force of the day. Assyria’s capitol and seat of power was Nineveh. The Assyrians were ruthless. They had ravaged and pillaged much of Israel, they had taken their wealth, occupied their land, and demanded the people of Israel pay them tribute. The Assyrians were despised enemies.</p> <p>Anyway, the word of the Lord comes to this very reluctant prophet called Jonah and God says, “Go at once, head <strong>east</stron