THE INCIDENT

Jonah runs from God's call, seeking to escape his divine assignment and chart his own path. However, God sends a violent storm that threatens to destroy the ship he boards. The terrified sailors cast lots, discovering Jonah as the cause of their peril. Jonah admits his disobedience and suggests they throw him overboard to calm the sea. Reluctantly, they complied, and immediately, the storm ceased. Jonah plunges into the ocean, where a great fish swallows him whole. Inside the belly of the fish, Jonah finds himself in a dark and desperate situation, the pit of his own making. Here, he realizes that he cannot outrun God’s mercy. He prays earnestly, acknowledging his failures and crying out for deliverance. Despite feeling banished and trapped, Jonah’s prayer rises to God’s holy temple. He recognizes that those who cling to worthless idols forsake their source of love and salvation, but he vows to fulfill his calling with shouts of grateful praise. God hears Jonah's cries and commands the fish to release him onto dry land.

Jonah emerges from the fish transformed by grace rather than disqualified by failure. He journeys to Nineveh, the city he initially fled from, and delivers God's message of impending judgment. The people of Nineveh respond with unexpected repentance. From the greatest to the least, they fast, wear sackcloth, and urgently call on God to relent from His anger. Even the king steps down from his throne and leads the city in repentance, hoping that God will spare them from destruction. Witnessing this massive turnabout in Nineveh stuns Jonah; it becomes
clear that what seemed like a pit was actually a platform for God's mercy to be displayed on a grand scale.