Everyone is familiar with the story of Jonah. What is the first thing you think about when you hear the name Jonah? I’m sure it’s the whale. That’s why the story is almost always called, “Jonah and the whale”! But the truth is that to really understand the message of the story of Jonah we have to be able to look past the whale. The whale is a real part of the story but the theme of Jonah is not about a whale. The theme to Jonah is the fact that God loves the world . . . even those people that we struggle to love ourselves.