According to the Biblical story Jonah is sent to Nineveh to preach repentance. The story prompts the question: who really needed to repent? The story starts off with Jonah resisting the call to become a prophet. Fleeing from God, he ends up in the belly of the whale. That gets his attention and he decides to heed the mission God is sending him on. Then, after his mission is successful and the Ninevities repent (which you think would be cause for rejoicing) he pouts that God hasn’t destroyed the city. God has to again send Jonah a message to learn that the ways of the Lord are kindness and compassion. All of which should remind us of our need to repent. When we look around and see all the troubles in this world we too easily think that THOSE PEOPLE need to shape up. The story of Jonah challenges us to change, to become more compassionate, more generous, more forgiving.
