Chapter 14 Waiting For an Answer

In this chapter Grandpa is trying to get Rick to see that we are commanded to love as the Savior did, unconditionally. "He commands us--no matter who our fathers and mothers may be--to love, just as he was able to, those who despitefully use us and persecute us. And if he commands us to lvoe in just that way, then it's pretty important that we understand why he was able to do so himself." Grandpa tries to get Rick to see that we should do no wrong to those who are hurting us, or who are creating difficulties for us. He draws our attention back go Jonah. "He is a bitter man at the moment. He thinks he is in the 'right' here. In fact, he is so convinced of it, he's willing to face off against the Lord. His is the cause of justice. Meanwhile, the Lord's question hangs in the air, "Should not I spare Nineveh?' What do you suppose would happen, Ricky, if Jonah were to give up his belligerence and answered, both in word and feeling, 'Yes!'? Do you suppose he would sit the same way under those sticks? Do you suppose his countenance would remain sour? Do yousuppose he would continue to curse at the sun? Do you suppose he would feel the way he currentlydoes about Nineveh?"
His world would change, wouldn't it-not because he would be perfect but because he would recognize in that moment that he has no claim to perfection in others, that his and others' hopes rest entirely on mercy, that he is entitled to nothing and grateful for everything. In that moment, he wouldn't become perfect, but he would become innocent because he would have allowed the Lord's offered mercy to well up inside of and change him into a new man, free from the clutches of sin."
The message here is so deep it is hard to explain but so easy to feel. Are we demanding justice and denying mercy? It isn't just about a couple's love dying, but about our own love to other people in our lives. Do we think that we are better than they are and therefore justified in keeping our love from them because of something THEY have done? We need to learn to love unconditionally as the Savior did. We need to see others as the Savior sees all of us.