This last week, those who practice Jewish culture celebrated Yom Kippur. This year it was Tuesday, October 11th at sundown, and ended Wednesday October 12th at the same time. And there is a Jewish tradition… that in their afternoon services on Yom Kippur every year, they read, in its entirety, the book on Jonah. And its a tradition that dates back thousands of years… where families would all gather around together on Yom Kippur, and they would read it together.
Which for someone who is not Jewish, the first question that I have, is why?
Because to most people, the book of Jonah is the story of a guy who got eaten by a whale. Who was in his belly for three days, and then he got spit out. Thats the gist of what most of us know about the book.
So, today we are going to start our series on the book of Jonah, exploring some of those questions…
questions like: Why is this book so significant?
Why is it considered to be one of the books known as “the prophets” when Jonah doesn't give a single prophecy the entire time… Why do the Jews, on their holiest day of the year, take the time to sit down and read the book in its entirety?
Most of us try and separate worship from working. Ministry is what we do on Sunday's, and everything else is "life" - but it doesn't work.