There are a lot of things that have happened in the life and call of Prophet Jonah before this reading (Jonah 3:1-5,10). His every effort to run away and run in the opposite direction from God has proved futile. Jonah 4:2 says, he knew God might forgive those monsters in Nineveh.  When God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah fled as far as he could from God.  But you can’t run from the God who controls storms and big fish.  From one end of the Mediterranean to the other, God pursued Jonah, and Jonah ended up right back where he started, with the call of God, in Israel. Now he has come to accept the call of God, though reluctantly, to be a prophet to the Ninevites. The message is tough, and one can understand the reluctance of Jonah who was without a prophetic background, to go to a great city like Nineveh with a tough and destructive message from God: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”. Not even a second chance, the verdict is pronounced. Jesus’ message in the gospel of this Sunday is also similar: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news”. God accepted the repentance of Ninevites and gave them a second chance, though at the displeasure of Jonah. Jesus’ call is also a definite one but another opportunity to repent. 

The call to repentance is to recognize that all is not well with us, or with the kind of world we are creating. It means acknowledging that we have made bad choices and messed up our lives and the lives of those around us. But it also means realizing we are not destined for disaster, that God is always ready to give us a second chance, and that, in the sunshine of his smile, we can turn our lives around – individually and collectively. It means that we can live in a new way, freed from the endless cycle of hatred and violence. In other words, we can live as God’s children for that is what we are. This is surely good news. No matter how often we may have failed in the past, we can always begin again. Let us always remember the beautiful saying: Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future…and this future is in the hands of Jesus.