A Whale of a Story

For the past week and continuing for the next two, we shall be reading from the writings of the “minor” prophets of Israel.  They are called “minor” because their writings are rather short, a few chapters at most.  They are not minor in terms of importance, however, because the messages that we receive from these Hebrew prophets are very relevant for our lives today.

Today and for the next two days we will once again hear the story of Jonah the Prophet.  I suspect that even people who are not familiar with the Bible know of Jonah.  Just about everyone knows that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish (often referred to as a whale) which spewed him up after a few days.  The mariners with whom he was traveling threw him overboard when he revealed to them that he was running away from his God.  When they heard his confession, they blamed him for the storm that was threatening to sink their ship. 

Why was Jonah running away from God? 

God had commissioned Jonah to preach repentance to the citizen of Nineveh.  Herein lies the first difference that we find between Jonah and the other prophets of Israel.  Jonah was sent to preach to Gentiles.  Not only were they Gentiles, they were also enemies of the children of Israel.  Jonah did not want them to repent.  He wanted God to destroy them.  Why should he be the agent of their reprieve? 

The second difference between Jonah and the other prophets is that he is successful.  No other prophet succeeded in convincing his audience to repent.  Jonah is the exception.  Just one day after he started to preach, the citizens of Nineveh and their king repented of their sin.  Consequently, God relented in the punishment he had planned for them.

In some ways, the story of Jonah is a classic “them” and “us” story.  When we look at all the difficulties and problems that have beset our world, a part of us wishes that God would simply act like a God of vengeance and wipe out all the sinners. 

The problem in such thinking is that we are all sinners.  It does us no good to try and compare ourselves to “the evildoers.”  We all fall into that category.  For those who maintain that their sins are not as great as the sins of others, it helps to remind ourselves that more is required of those who have been given more. 

As we listen to Jonah, the temptation might be to think of Jonah’s audience as “the other guys.”  The fact is that Jonah is preaching repentance to all of us.  We are all in need of conversion.  We are all sinners.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator