It's whale watching season out west. January is the height of the winter migration of Grey Whales along the California coast. The story of the mammoth whales' migration from the cooler northern waters to the tepid waters of Baja California is marvelous. Recently, however, I have been pondering a much different whale of a tale-the story of the biblical prophet Jonah.

For years I've resisted preaching about Jonah. I'm not sure why exactly, but perhaps I wasn't ready to tackle this story. Decades ago, a seminary professor reminded me that sometimes there are stories preachers are not ready to preach. At the time, I wasn't sure what he meant exactly. He sounded a bit like Jack Nicholson's iconic Col. Jessup from "A Few Good Men." "You can't handle the truth," he seemed to snap at us.

After a while in ministry, I began to understand what he was saying. As a result, I kept my distance from a few stories in scripture that I believed I wasn't quite prepared to tackle.

When the story of Jonah popped up in this year's lectionary readings, I initially ignored it. But then I took a second look.

In many ways, the text had become my own experience of fleeing Nineveh, the legendary Assyrian city in the story. God calls Jonah to head there to proclaim judgment against the city. Jonah declines God's invitation, and instead takes a cruise to Tarshish, a seaport in the exact opposite direction of Nineveh. As everyone knows, this lands Jonah in a heap of trouble. God hurls a wind upon the sea, causing a storm that even turned crusty old sailors into a bunch of scaredey cats.

They find Jonah sleeping, ask him who he is, and why he is running away. The sailors may be pagans, but they certainly seem to understand the truth of Psalm 139:

Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.

Jonah tells the sailors this whole mess is his fault, and that they should toss him overboard. As it happens, a big, hungry fish is swimming near the boat. At this point, both the story and Jonah descend into murky depths.

Because we're unwilling or unable to wrestle with the theological implications of this story, we have tried to make it sound like a cute children's story. We paint it with bright colors and stick it in kid's Bibles and on the walls of nurseries. "Free Willy" this isn't. Yet it does carry a whale of a prophetic word, one which the church today desperately needs to hear.

For example, consider Jonah's reluctance to go to Nineveh. He has no desire to go there. Nineveh was the seat of the Assyrian empire, a nation with a well-deserved reputation for being cruel and mean. It was the enemy of Israel, far beyond the reach of God. Not only was Nineveh a place he did not want to go, it was a place where Jonah believed God should not be, either. Ninevites were beyond redemption. They were the "other," they were enemies.

But God's purposes are bigger than we imagine. The Gospels remind us that Jesus went in pursuit of those commonly perceived to be beyond redemption. Jesus told parables of fathers waiting for sons to come home, and of women diligently searching for things that were lost. We need to be careful in deciding who is beyond the reach of God.

As a result, Jonah hits bottom. His choice to flee sends him to the depths of the sea. Overwhelmed by fear and frustration, he lands in the belly of a great fish. Whether or not this actually happened is beside the point, in my opinion.  The story is inviting me to look at the moments I have hit bottom.  When life seemed so incomprehensible, there was nothing else for Jonah to do but to pray. Jonah laments, crying out: "As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to you into your holy temple."

This is how Jonah's story becomes our story. When we descend to the depths, suddenly we discover that "even there your hand shall lead me."

It's has taken me a while to learn that message, but now I understand. Don't let the absurdity of the story's images get in the way of its important meaning. When there is no place else to go, turning back to God releases us from the belly of beast. Resurrection occurs. Raised to new life, Jonah lands back on the beach, where the word of God comes to him once more.

It takes whale watching to a whole new level.