Jonah a kid's story? A Bible Study Debrief

So last night at my small group we studied Jonah. For those unfamiliar, this story follows an Old Testament Jewish prophet as he runs from God. In his disobedience, he boards a ship, which subsequently finds itself in a squall. The sailors fear his God and, obeying Jonah's directions, throw him into the raging sea. The sea calms. And then underneath the waters a fish swallows God's prophet and keeps him in his belly for 3 days. In the belly of the fish Jonah seemingly repents of his disobedience. The fish vomits him out and he makes the 3 day journey to Nineveh preaching death and destruction for those who do not repent. The Ninevites immediately repent and God stops the judgement. Instead of rejoicing in this peace and mercy, Jonah gets bent out of shape under a tree.

So today I'm thinking of this. The irony and the self-righteousness and the heaviness of this short book. One question comes to mind - why is this such a popular kids Bible story? Can they get the layers of irony and symbolism and foreshadowing? If not, is the simple narrative worthy of telling to children.

And then I think about my sons. Hearing about the big fish resonates with them right now. Later will this impression morph into the richness of the theology of the everyday? Yes, your obedience means something I tell them (more than once a day for sure); yes, your disobedience means something. Your faith is seen by the world as you make decisions.

Those sailors feared the Lord and worshiped him even as God's own prophet fell into the depths of Sheol.

Those Ninevites immediately cried out to God for mercy and believed in his salvation even as God's own prophet preached nothing more than "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" and then pouted about God's compassion.

This the sign of belief and faith - definitely worth telling kids. God's faithfulness always worth telling :) And why not through the vessel of an enormous fish?

Matthew 12:38-42