Why is a story about a man being swallowed by a huge fish and vomited out recorded in the Bible? This sermon begins by looking at the importance of the Book of Jonah, connecting it to references, echoes and allusions in the New Testament, as well as back to the flood of Genesis 6-9. It then asks what was it that motivated Jonah to attempt – absurdly – to flee the God of Heaven, who made sea and dry land. The answer is not simply that he was an “Israelite nationalist” who resented mercy coming to a heathen nation. Rather, he knew this was a sign of something else.