You probably already know the story from when you were growing up. It was probably called “Jonah and the Whale.” Well, the fact is, the Old Testament book of Jonah is not primarily about a whale or about whether or not there was a fish big enough to swallow a full-grown, adult human being and then hold him in its stomach for three days and three nights. No, Jonah is about what God is like when we are like Jonah. The book of Jonah is an Old Testament version of the parable Jesus told about the prodigal sons and their father in Luke 15. But in this case, Jonah looks like both the younger son who ran away from his father and squandered his life, and the older prodigal son who refused to rejoice at his brother's return home. What is God’s mercy all about? Why does the grace of God become such a scandal to so many of our hearts and minds? Why do we so often want justice for others, but grace and mercy for ourselves?
