Love Your Enemies
One concept in the Gospel this weekend is a hard idea to actually put into practice. Quite simply, loving your enemies is a brutal request for all of us who worry and fret at people with bad intentions causing pain and suffering to others. Let’s not be naive. Jesus understood that he was unlikely to change the minds of those who saw him as a threat, but he understood some underlying principles:
Bitter is not better.
Responding and reacting are different ideas.
When Jesus is speaking, he sees the world through a lens of Jewish history. He knows that he is part of a conquered people in the eyes of the world. But to God, the Jewish people are beloved children, even though their history is one filled with struggle, imperfection, and conflict. He is civil to people he doesn’t like, rather than choosing violence.
Loving your enemy does not mean that you will cultivate time with them. It means that you recognize their humanity, and in that, you see that you are as valuable as they believe themselves to be.
Jesus asks each of us to trust that we learn from our circumstances, even though we are sometimes unable to control them. Christ chooses love, but he does not choose inaction. When Jesus speaks of turning the other cheek and offering it to the person who has hit them, there’s a cultural reference there. Jesus is creatively turning the tables on the offense. The hitter would have smacked the left cheek with the back of right hand, attacking the dignity of the person in a personal insult. Turning the cheek is a challenge, because for the aggressor to hit again would require using the front of the right hand, thereby marking the victim as an equal.
In times when you cannot control the actions of others, controlling your own reactions and responses is where your power lies. What we experience in life includes injustices large and small but also kindness and dignity. Choose to participate in communities that value all members. Speak up when you see indignity and ally yourself with those who need your support.
+Kevin
