My Way or the High Way

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." 3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:1-5,10)

When God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah initially refused and went as far as he could in the opposite direction. Jonah knew God desired to be merciful rather than wrathful, but Jonah had deemed the people of Nineveh too sinful to deserve the grace God wanted to give them. Sure enough, when (with a little encouragement from a large fish) Jonah did finally go and tell the people of God's impending judgement,

the people repented and God relented.

We are often more like Jonah than we want to admit. We are willing to go anywhere but “there”, and do anything but “that”. We are fine with “vengeance is mine, says the Lord” as long as the vengeance actually happens. But God calls us beyond our perception of justice/punishment. While there are many biblical examples of the exiled people of Israel celebrating God’s vengeance on their behalf, there are many more examples of God reaching out with mercy to a humanity that repeatedly turns away.

God’s grace is for all - it extends to us for the purpose of extending through us. When Jesus calls the disciples - and us - to follow him it’s not to the rebellion that would satisfy our basest instincts, but to a laying down of self for the undeserving and unrepentant. We want God’s grace when we’re the offender, so we must extend that grace to our offenders. The high way of God that we strive toward is not a weak resignation to the power of sin, but an emboldened trust that the power of God's love and grace to transform sinful hearts and minds is even greater.

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)