Sunday School Student and Far Side on Jonah
The story is told of a Sunday School teacher who was proud of her lesson for the day. She thought that she had presented the material quite nicely. Summing up, she asked her class, "And what do we learn from the story of Jonah and the great fish?" An eight-year-old girl, named Suzy, thought for a moment and answered, "Always travel by air." Of course, air travel didn’t exist in Old Testament times; and, I hope that we learned something more from the story of Jonah than just always travel by air.
The writer and creator of "The Far Side," Gary Larson, in one of his cartoons depicts a bearded man standing at his front door. He is dripping wet and his clothes are in shreds. His wife opens the door. She looks at the messy, bearded man with disgust and says, "For crying out loud, Jonah! Three days late, covered with slime, smelling like a fish. What story have I got to swallow this time?" It is hard for some people to swallow the story of Jonah and the great fish!
From a sermon by Travis Markes, A God of Second Chances, 11/10/2009