I've had Jonah on my mind lately. There's a good reason for that. A group of children at our church, with the dedicated help of a number of adults, is busy practicing a musical based on the story of Jonah and the whale. It's due to hit the stage, or more correctly, the chancel, one Sunday next month and it's a lot of fun. But there is more than just fun to the story of Jonah, and I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on the subject.

Of course, part of the story is very well known. Everyone remembers how Jonah was swallowed by a whale. (Actually, the Bible says it was a "great fish", but in so many children's versions of the story, it's a whale, and that does have a real ring to it! Sounds more exciting than a fish!) At any rate, you may remember how and why he got there. Jonah tried to run away from God, a very bad move! God had given a task that Jonah didn't like. He was told to go and preach to the people of Nineveh who were a pretty wicked bunch. Jonah was to preach to them and make them repent, or they would suffer disaster.

Jonah could see no point in trying to save such sinners who were, furthermore, long time enemies of the Israelites. So Jonah, as you recall, took a cruise in the opposite direction, and when a terrible storm arose, it became clear that Jonah was to blame. He was therefore dumped in the ocean. The ship was saved, and Jonah became a fish's supper! Now we all know how Jonah, deep inside the fish, repented of his disobedience. Who wouldn't? Being inside the belly of a giant sea creature would make anyone think! And then, in God's good time, the great beast coughed Jonah up on dry land.

So here we have the first and most obvious lesson from this good old story. You can't run away from God! And yet, we do try. We may not actually, physically run away, but still there are times when we turn our backs, pretending we don't really know what God would have us do in certain situations, and we do the absolute opposite. We may not end up in the belly of a whale, but disobeying God's will is certain to have consequences sooner or later in our lives.

I t ' s the latter part of the story, the lesser known part, that I think can say so much to us today. Jonah did go to Nineveh, and he preached up a storm, telling the people that they must repent, change their ways, or be destroyed. Well, they repented all right. From the king on down to the lowliest peasant, they put on sackcloth as a sign of their repentance. The king ordered that even the animals should be clothed in sackcloth. (I try to imagine my dog in sackcloth! Maybe it would be appropria t e some- times, but he'd find it very itchy!)

Now you would think that Jonah would have felt good about their repentance. What preacher wouldn't be happy to have their preaching so overwhelmingly successful? Well, Jonah felt absolutely no "job satisfaction". In fact, he took himself out of the city and had a great sulk! Why? Well Jonah never thought that God should save these people. They were wicked, and they weren't Israelites. They weren't "God's People". At least that was what he thought.

What Jonah failed to understand, and what we sometimes forget, is that all people are God's people. Christ didn't die for just a "bright selected few". Christ died for the sins of all humankind. God loves all his children, flawed though we are, and God expects us to show his love in our own lives. In his great parable, the good Samaritan, Jesus taught us about loving our neighbours.

Our neighbours may not think like us, may not look like us, but we all are God's children. Many of our neighbours may not worship God as we do. Many, sadly, do not worship God at all. Still, we are brothers and sisters, and we are called to love one another. Just for fun, I'll end with a quote from the end of our little play.

In your minds just substitute for Ninevites any of your neighbours whom you find different from yourself!

The words are, in the play, spoken by God to a sulking Jonah!
Sure the Ninevites seem
strange, that's true,
But they're my children,
just like you.
I'm not the God of just
one race,
Nor do I live in just one
place.
So learn this now that
all these others
Are really your sisters
and your brothers.
I think that just about
says it!