Jonah 1:1-3 (NLT) The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: "Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are." But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the LORD by sailing to Tarshish.

“Really, God?” I wondered as I pondered this blog post. “Do I really have to talk about the infinite Grace of God that is greater than ALL of our sins and Osama bin Laden in the same post?” After hearing that news that bin Laden had been killed in an attack targeted at him, one of the most heinous and ruthless terrorist leaders of our time, I had to contemplate how I could think about Grace and Justice in the same breath. There is definitely justice to ridding the world of a notorious leader of terrorism. He has been an instigator of many deaths in the U.S. and around the world. Our nation still cringes from the shocking news of 9/11/2001, so much so that even the mention of 9/11 will have conversations going about who was lost that day in the attack on the twin towers and other targeted sites. And that doesn’t even take into account years of ruthlessness and countless innocent people killed through the years under his direction. So for the sake of those killed and on behalf of the living, justice has been served.

As we read the Old Testament, we get a sense of the justice of God as we read story after story of those who were punished for their idolatrous or ruthless acts of violence toward innocent people. In fact, Jonah struggled with the same questions that we have had over the last few days after being told by God to deliver a message to the people of Ninevah: “Repent or judgment will fall on you.” From the story, we get the sense that Jonah didn’t want God's mercy for these people, which is what God was offering. Jonah wanted justice. Those Ninevites were ruthless who attacked and killed people for sport, and then proudly displayed their “trophies” of lives taken around their city. I can imagine that Jonah was saying to himself, “Yes, God. It’s about time that those people got what they deserve!” So he set out in the opposite direction from the way God had told him to go, refusing to offer God’s Grace and Mercy to the people he deemed beyond the reach of a loving and merciful God.

As we think about current events, let us consider these questions: Am I willing to admit that God loves those who commit heinous acts of violence against the innocent just as much as God loves me? How do I limit God’s Grace to others by refusing to tell them of God’s love for them?