The story of Jonah is one of the more widely known stories of the Bible. Even those with little Bible knowledge have heard of “Jonah and the Whale.” What even many Christians haven’t paid enough attention to is what the story is about. We popularly say it is about the “reluctant” prophet. Sometimes we turn it into a cautionary tale about obeying God when He tells you to do something. Neither of these are the point of the story.

First, Jonah wasn’t reluctant, he was downright unwilling. He did not want to go to Ninevah because he didn’t want there to be any chance that they might be delivered from God’s judgment. He tells us this in Jonah 4:2 “…in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.”

Second, the tale is not presented as a lesson on obedience (although you could take that lesson from the story). Instead, the story is not about Jonah’s actions, but about both Jonah’s and God’s hearts. Chapter four finds the story coming to a climax with Ninevah repenting, God relenting, and Jonah fuming because he wanted to see Ninevah destroyed. Ninevah was a major city of Assyria, which two of Jonah’s fellow prophets had predicted would overthrow Israel. Jonah is a patriot and is more interested in saving his country than saving the people of Ninevah. The book ends with God expressing His own compassion on the city of pagan unbelievers.

God gave us the book of Jonah to ask us that same question. To challenge us to face our Ninevah. Too often many find more common cause with Jonah than we might care to admit. We are eager for the defeat of our enemies and more interested in saving the interests of ourselves and those around us than the enemies that threaten us. When you have a pagan, threatening enemy, compassion is rarely your go-to thought.

So there’s the challenge. Will Ninevah defeat you like it defeated Jonah. Will whoever you see as your enemy be the thing that reveals your lack of understanding of the compassion of God? Whether your Ninevah is someone from the other political party, (or all of “them”), someone from a different faith (or someone without any faith), or just a person in your life that seems set against you, do you see your Ninevah like God or like Jonah?