Enemies No More
Matthew 5:38-48[1]
We as a people seem
to have a “terrible love of violence.”[2] Many of us have grown up
watching TV programs and movies that are essentially based on the premise that
there are “good guys” and “bad guys” in the world. And the natural instinct is
that we want the “good guys” to win—even if it means using violence. We have
been taught to believe in what one scholar has called the “Myth of Redemptive
Violence.”[3] We’ve seen the story
played out hundreds of times: the “bad guys” threaten innocent people; the
“good guys” confront them; the “good guys” overcome the “bad guys” through some
kind of violence; and the innocent people can live their lives in peace as a
result.
This idea is
something that is so ingrained in us that we believe it with the fervor of
religious faith: when our safety is threatened, it takes some kind of violence
to restore it. Whether that violence may take the form of war, or execution, or
the excessive use of force, we believe it is the only way to ensure our safety.
And yet the truth that has been repeated to our deaf ears throughout the ages
is that violence can never overcome violence.[4] It’s like a virus: when we
use violence of any kind it only breeds more violence. If we want to know the
source of the violence in our society, I think we have to look at the hostility
in our own hearts.
Our lesson from the
Sermon on the Mount for today is the central text that has inspired a
completely different way of being and living with our fellow human beings. Instead
of dividing up our world into “us” and “them,” Jesus challenges us to approach
the differences between us from the perspective of a basic recognition that we
all are children of God. When we look at it from that perspective, there are no
more “friends” and “enemies,” but only brothers and sisters in the one human
family.
This section of the
Sermon on the Mount continues Jesus’ call to those who would follow him to embrace
the values reflected in God’s ways and purposes. In our lesson for today, he continues
to teach us that obedience comes from the heart. It might seem initially that
Jesus contradicts the teaching that said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth.” But actually, he’s following the same pattern as before. We can see
this when we realize that “an eye for an eye” did not require retribution, it actually
limited the extent of vengeance that was considered appropriate. “An eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth” meant that you were not allowed to execute someone
for taking an eye. If you did take revenge, its extent was to be limited by the
extent of the injury.
The way in which
Jesus goes to the heart of this matter is to teach those who would follow him
not to take revenge at all. He says it this way, “Do not resist an evildoer”
(Matt. 5:39). That might seem confusing on the surface of things. How can we
not “resist an evildoer”? If we see someone committing a crime, or endangering
a life, surely we have a responsibility to prevent it. But that’s not the kind
of “resistance” Jesus was talking about. As the examples he uses make clear, he
was talking about not retaliating against those who insult or humiliate or attack
us personally. We’re not to take revenge against those who treat us wrongfully.
Many have debated
whether Jesus’ surprising instructions here are actually practical enough to
follow in real life. I would say it’s simple enough to “turn the other
cheek”—in principle at least. But how can we give in to an unjust lawsuit or
outright abuse by authorities? I think the answer lies in that Jesus was, to
some extent, speaking ironically. The strategies he proposes are meant to shame
and even ridicule the one who is in the wrong. This can be seen with the lawsuit
over garments. What we may not realize is that to literally do what Jesus
recommends would leave a man standing naked in court. But the point was that
such an action would shame the person who failed to recognize the dignity of a
brother by taking advantage of him in the first place.
All of this leads up
to what Jesus has to say about the great commandment, “you shall love your
neighbor as yourself.” We find many ways to limit the concept of our “neighbor”
to those who are like us. But Jesus makes it clear that truly following this
commandment means loving those who are different. It even means loving those
whom we may consider our “enemies.” The most important reason for this is that
it’s the way God treats people.[5] We’re to love others in
the same way as our heavenly Father, without making distinctions between “us”
and “them,” or “friends” and “enemies.”[6]
One consequence of
our belief in violence as a means of ensuring our safety is that we tend to see
the world in terms of “good guys” and “bad guys,” “friends” and “enemies.”
Unfortunately, when we do that we fail to recognize that approaching our world
in that way leaves us not with more safety, but with less. I think one of the
easiest ways to reveal the error in that mindset is by asking “Whom would Jesus
consider an ‘enemy’?” As Jesus pointed out, God pours out the blessings of his
love on all people equally. As people who seek to follow Jesus, we can do no
less. At the heart of his challenging teaching is the call to “see that every
human face is the face of a neighbor.”[7] When we really take that
challenge to heart, we can only respond to others as friends, with love. When
we follow Jesus, we can be “enemies” no more.
[1]
©2017 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 2/19/2017 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] I
adapted this phrase from James Hillman’s A
Terrible Love of War.
[3] Cf.
Walter Wink, The Powers that Be,
42-43, where he describes the “Myth of Redemptive Violence” as “the dominant
religion in our society today”! Cf. ibid., 39, where he describes the “domination
system” it is intended to support: “unjust economic relations, oppressive
political relations, biased race relations, patriarchal gender relations,
hierarchical power relations, and the use of violence to maintain them all.”
[4] Cf.
Wink, Powers that Be, 134: “violence
can never stop violence” because its very success only breeds more violence.
See further, Martin Luther King, Jr., Where
Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? , 67: “Returning violence for
violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid
of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate
cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Cf. also Dhammapada 5: “Hatred is never appeased
by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is a law
eternal.”
[5]
Cf. Davies and Allison, Matthew 1-7,
562, where they say, “To obey Jesus words ... is, therefore, to love utterly:
no more can be asked.” They further
observe (p. 563) that “The motivation for being ‘perfect’ in love is grounded
in the Father’s ‘perfect’ love, in his giving without measure.” See further ibid., 560, where they suggest
that what actually lies behind the “be perfect” of Mt. 5:48 is the command to
“be holy” in Lev. 19:2.
[6] Cf.
Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, On Human Dignity:
Political Theology and Ethics, 128, where he quotes the 1981 Declaration of
Peace by the Society of Protestant Theology: “There are no conflicts of our
life, neither personal nor political, which are not embraced by God’s will for
peace with human beings and his whole creation. There are no enemies, neither
personal nor political, for whom God’s will for peace does not apply.” Cf. also
Jürgen Moltmann, Ethics of Hope, 202:
“We are not the enemies of our enemies; we are ‘the children of our Father in
heaven’, ... . If we do not react to enmity with enmity, we creatively make it
possible for our enemies to turn away from their enmity and to enter into the
life we share.”
[7] Cf.
Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, 41:
“compassion … breaks through the boundaries between languages and countries,
rich and poor, educated and illiterate. This compassion pulls people away from
the fearful clique and into the large world where they can see that every human
face is the face of a neighbor.”
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