Two significant sentences appear today, a) 'Jonah decided to run away from the Lord' (Jonah 1:2), and b) 'And who is my neighbour?'(Luke 10:29). They are seemingly unrelated, yet both should provoke us to thought-filled action. Jonah's desperation to evade the demands of the Lord leads him to several perilous adventures, the first of which, the storm at sea, is described today. Notice how the pagan sailors from various countries and worshipping various gods had a far greater respect and awe of the Lord, the God of heaven, than Jonah, the one chosen by the Lord to be a prophet. Despite Jonah's recalcitrance, the Lord still had mercy on him and saved him from drowning when he prayed to the Lord from the belly of the fish (Psalm Reading and Jonah 2:3-5). 'And who is my neighbour?' asked the self-righteous lawyer who in his more subtle way is also trying to evade God's demands of him. The parable of the Good Samaritan gave a clear answer to the question posed. Here again it is the unlikely personage who acts in a God-fearing way, as did the sailors in Jonah's story.

The Lord had asked Jonah to be a neighbour to the Ninevites, to warn them of His possible wrath and to save them from themselves. Do we steer clear of being 'good neighbours' when it becomes burdensome?