Epiphany 7C – George Yandell
“Who are your enemies?” I’ve been asking this question of people close to me this week. None of them reports having anyone s/he regards as an enemy. Thus I conclude we miss the point of what Jesus says- “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” I want to talk about enemy, balance, and more. I want to show you what’s at stake when we miss the point Jesus makes.
These enemy/hatred sayings are the very core of the gospel Jesus taught. The Greek word ‘enemy’ comes from a root meaning “to hate.” It’s hard for us to admit hating anyone. Except maybe the driver who cuts us off, the politician who rubs us the wrong way, the drug dealer who sells to those who are addicted. But if we hear these sayings the way Jesus said them, then it’s not so hard to figure. My enemy is anyone who hates me. Anyone who hates me is the enemy. Jesus enjoins me to love that one. Love and pray earnestly for anyone who curses me, anyone who insults me, uses me spitefully.
What possible benefit can there be for me in loving those who wish me ill? It’s not for a reward, although the gospel led the Beatles to sing, “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Jesus clearly says, “Do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” So there’s some deeper intent in the transaction Jesus commands.
I am reminded of growing up in E TN, where many looked down on our neighbors up north of the Mason-Dixon line. We called them ‘carpetbaggers’ when they moved in amongst us. We ourselves were held in disregard by our neighbors to the north who called us slow, racist, backward, hillbillies, hicks. Having enemies fills a strong human need. If enemies don’t exist in reality, then we create them in our minds.
Maybe there is a need to hate that we can’t admit to. But I think of it more as a need to blame. Blaming we hear all the time. What’s wrong? It’s them. Why is one’s world such a confusing place? It’s their fault. Why is the former order breaking down? It couldn’t be because it was flawed and is collapsing of its own weight. Why do I feel pain? It’s somebody else’s lack of empathy.
Not only do enemies explain what we otherwise can’t, but they provide the perfect hiding place. Why did I get cut from the team? The coach played favorites. Why am I short of funds? The evil banks forced credit cards on me. Why try if the deck is stacked against me?
The trick in loving one’s enemy is not just to take a new attitude toward the other guy, but also toward oneself. To love an enemy, you must love yourself. To accept the other, you must first accept yourself and stop forcing some other person, race or type into the enemy role. To stop blaming the other, you must take responsibility for your own life. Even if the enemy is real and dangerous, before you can make peace, you must make peace with yourself and stop clinging to a warped self-image. Jesus insists that his followers work for a balance between really knowing and accepting oneself, and really knowing and accepting the enemy.
Maybe, just maybe, the enemy gives a gift. Not the neurotic hiding place or blame target, but something worth receiving. The gift of humility, of course. Maybe more. An opportunity for compassion – that is a gift. An opportunity to see the world through another’s eyes – that is a gift. An opportunity to experience the agony of severed relationships – an agony far worse than losing belongings to thieves, an agony that instructs.
Striking back, then, could be seen as an act of ingratitude. A strange way to view things, perhaps, but Jesus had strange views. He did not see his accusers as enemies, but as ones to love. He did not strike down his tormentors, but carried his cross to Calvary. He did not conquer the Roman centurion through might of arms, but through the greater might of submission.
I think Jesus was encouraging his friends to go deep. He saw more in them than they saw in themselves. Once they saw that more, then they would be more like him, more accepting, more loving. As long as they were superficial in themselves, then their relationships would be superficial – utilitarian, quid pro quo, tit-for-tat back-scratching. We might even begin to laugh at the truth Walt Kelly spoke years ago in the comic strip Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Loving one’s enemy probably is not the first thing one does on the road to wholeness, but the last. So much other work must proceed it. Self-regard seems to start in knowing oneself as flawed – and knowing that God loves one anyway. Other-regard flows from seeing the other as flawed, too – and no less loved by God.
I want to give you a simple assignment. It’s a simple addition to your regular prayers: Pray for everyone who might have a hard time with you. Pray for anyone you blame for anything gone wrong. Pray for the one who gives you a hiding-place from admitting your own flaws. I believe you’ll find a peace you’ve been searching for. You just may find yourself transformed. That’s what Jesus intended.