"Love your enemies" (6:27) Jesus says in his "Sermon on the Plain" (6:20-49). It's certainly counterintuitive, even surprising -- but it sounds simple enough in the abstract. A nice idea.But then Jesus spells out exactly what it means in practice, and reveals how radical this commandment really is: "do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them" (6:27-31).
The passage is so familiar that it loses its bite; we become numb to its revolutionary power. Phrases like "turn the other cheek" turn into nearly meaningless platitudes. If we think about these commands at all, we write them off as unrealistic, impracticable ideals. That's just not the way things work in the real world.
But is it perhaps imprudent to regard the Second Person of the Trinity as a naive dreamer? What would the world look like if we put "love your enemies" into practice?
(Image: Icon of Christ Pantocrator, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai, 6th century)
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I think this is good to think about similar to the "little martyrdoms" idea. We may not know anyone who we'd call an enemy or anyone who picks physical fights with us or steals from uss\. But there are plenty of ways that even people we love -- or, maybe, especially them! ;) -- irritate us, and those are little opportunities for love. They are also extremely challenging in their own way, because we all have bad habitual responses to small irritations, and habits are hard to change!
ReplyDeleteI'll venture an answer to Kevin's question.
ReplyDeleteThe early Christians were staunchly pacifistic. Celsus, the first major critic and articulate opponent of Christianity, fired a shot: "If everyone followed your example, the emperor would be left without soldiers and the barbarians would overrun the empire!"
Origen, the brilliant apologist, responded, in effect: "Actually, if everyone followed our example, then the peace of Christ would have spread like wildfire: everyone would be Christians, and there'd be no one to fight against!"
So, either big or small martyrdoms (I love that concept, Jeanette, and hadn't heard of it before!)—but perhaps God will work a change through these examples.