The book of Jonah is the fourth shortest book in the Bible. Just 48 verses among its four chapters, it nevertheless is easily the most memorable of the twelve minor prophets. His encounter with the whale or “great fish” is probably in just about every children’s Bible and Sunday school curriculum. I expect most of us know it. If you do not, the entire book is only about a page and a half in our pew Bibles, and you just heard about a quarter of it. It doesn’t take long to read, but it may take some time to reflect on his story and what his experience teaches us about God and ourselves.

This morning we heard the final scene. Having repented of trying to flee from God’s command and being spat out of the great fish onto dry land, Jonah does as God instructed. (We assume after a bath and freshening up a bit.) He goes to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, to warn them to repent and turn to God, or God would destroy their city.

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This morning’s gospel is at once extremely helpful and extremely demanding. Peter asks how many times he must forgive, “a member of the Church.” Jesus answers, “not seven times, but seventy times seven.” That doesn’t mean 490 times. It is an old Biblical metaphor used in Genesis to describe unlimited vengeance. Jesus uses it to emphasize unlimited forgiveness. This standard is absolute. And, like everything else Jesus says and does, this has everything to do with the Kingdom of God.

Then Jesus describes forgiveness with this parable. The slave has racked up an impossible debt, roughly 160,000 years’ worth of wages. (That’s a long time; 160,000 years ago, humans were using stone tools and fire, and when they had neanderthals in the neighborhood it wasn’t a metaphor.)

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This morning’s gospel includes on one level the very best advice we have on conflict resolution. The basic principles of going first to the person directly, then involving two or three witnesses, then taking it to the community make perfect sense in any context. That’s truly helpful because we are so regularly in conflict. Let’s face it, people are very difficult to get along with – not you, of course, but those other people. You know who they are.

The conflict could be within our families, in our workplaces, our neighborhoods or really in any context. The idea of trying to work it out first one-on-one saves everyone trouble, and avoids any embarrassment as well. Including two or three witnesses also keeps it pretty well contained, and helps to ensure that people are hearing each other clearly. Finally, taking it to the community as a last step offers a chance for the issue to be finally resolved.

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