The end of the book of Jonah is a well known story. After Jonah has been spared from the belly of the whale he goes with his message of doom to Ninevah. Repent or die, he tells the people and then withdraws outside the city.
Surprisingly, to Jonah, they do repent and are restored to full life. Jonah is angry, very angry. He does not understand, after everything he has been through, and the risks he has taken to deliver this message why God would spare the city.
But Jonah has it wrong - his ultimate purpose was not to proclaim judgment but repentance. If he had understood his message was one of mercy then perhaps he would have been leaping for joy because he succeeded in saving so many people from destruction.
We too are messengers of mercy - giving people tools to return to God from wherever they may be. Anger often enters into this process - after all our own sense of justice often tells us that someone or other needs punishing, needs to learn their lesson, needs to be brought down a peg or two,
But ins fact, God's mercy is the biggest lesson of all. Those who have found forgiveness know that there is often no reparation to be had - forgiveness cuts to the heart of all we are and can bee. It strips us down to our basic selves.
This is not to say we do not live in a world of consequences but that we should always remember that our purpose, like that of Jonah, is to prompt a return to God in those around us and to enter into that return ourselves.
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