Growing Love Instead of Hate

 

Scripture

 Luke 6:27-36

²⁷“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³²“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. ³⁵But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  (NRSV)

Devotion

 I am the kind of person who can hold a grudge.  Earlier today, I chortled with glee when I read the story of a professional arborist who took revenge on the town council that ordered his pepper tree chopped down by planting redwoods and giant sequoias outside multiple government owned buildings, a public park, and the mayor's house.   Not only are the root systems of these towering giants already nearly impossible to remove once the spouted trees makes their presence known, but their endangered status means there are legal obstacles to killing one.  From my perspective, the arborist had executed the perfect revenge...one in which the punishment both suited the crime and upped the ante in a major way.    I found myself saying to a friend, "I want to be like this guy."

Jesus, though, does not want me to be like that arborist.  For though we humans may be tempted to get people back or see them punished for hurting us, Jesus says we are to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who abuse us.  After all, Jesus says, if we love only those who love us--if we are only good to those who are good to us-- then we haven't really done anything all that amazing.  Anyone can do that.

Christians often nod sagely at Jesus's advice and talk in vague terms about loving our enemies.  We mention hypothetical people who are members of cultures and who we will never meet.  We shake our heads about big issues like prejudice and sexism and violence or pray that Jesus turn political enemies into friends.  If people were just a little more forgiving and did to others as they would have done to them, we think then all of these problems would go away.  

When we remain focused on those big, hypothetical issues, Jesus's advice requires very little from us as individuals. Things get more complicated, though, when we get down to the nitty gritty and consider how our individual lives play into that big picture.  When the same person hurts, belittles, offends, or even just annoys us over and over again, how do we react?  Do we wage our own vendetta against them and try to enlist others to join us in the battle?  Or do we try do as Jesus taught by turning away from our desire to strike back and instead blessing, praying for, and doing good for them?  

Truly loving our enemies is hard work...especially when the slights, insults, and injuries seem to build up over time.  We wonder how that person could possibly deserve our blessings, prayers, and assistance.  Jesus's point, though, is that true love--God's love--is not something that can be earned.  It is something that Christ has freely given to people who don't deserve it and may never even come to acknowledge or appreciate it... people who are all to ready to deny, mock, hurt, or kill Jesus, only to have him turn around and offer forgiveness and eternal life.  People like you and me.

 If we are to truly live as followers of Christ, then we need to be ready to share some of that unearned love has given us with the people who mock us.  The people who anger us.  The people who wound us terribly.  Fantasizing about giving someone their comeuppance, talking behind their back, or even executing the perfect payback doesn't really fix anything.  Those types of actions just perpetuate the cycle of painful acts that afflict our world.  It is when we do as Christ taught, find a way to forgive our enemies, and move on  with our lives that we being to take the wind out of hatred's sails.

Imperfect human that I am, I would still love to be there when the arborist's enemies discover that they have sequoias growing in their yards.  At the same time, I wonder what might have happened if had chosen a different approach.  What it, instead of spending months quietly putting his spiteful plan into action, he had made it clear how much their decision had hurt him, offered them forgiveness, and invited them to go plant some trees with him?  Maybe they could have found a way to set aside their differences and work together for the benefit of their community.  And maybe if I could just set aside a few of my own grudges and make a point of seeking the good of people I have issues with, the world would become a little better...a little more Christlike.

Today, I a publicly commit to trying my best to be a little less spiteful and a little more loving towards my enemies.  It will probably take me the rest of my life to get truly good at it, but we all have to start somewhere.  I can only pray that someone who I have hurt or offended over the years will do the same for me.

 

Prayer

Jesus, help me learn to pray and seek the best for those who wound me.  We await the day when we enter your perfect Kin-dom and even the greatest of enemies are united by bonds of love.  Amen.