Monday, May 28, 2007

'Love your enemies'

Just been reading Jesus' famous sermon on the mount, as preparation for tomorrow's vigil. This bit in particular stood out to me:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons [and daughters] of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers [and sisters], what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
(Matthew 5:43-48)
I'm thinking about the fact that if you hate your enemy then it's pretty difficult to have any hope for tranformation or reconciliation. It often means you can end up seeing them as being completely evil and yourself as being completely righteous in hating them. (That's called scapegoating.) We noticed that going on at the G20 last year, where some protesters were saying that if was fine to use violence against the police, because they weren't human anymore.

2 comments:

Mike Messerli said...

Chris, I agree, and that's the reason that many who are not believers hate Christians- we make them feel like sinners and at the same time claim to be saints while we live just as they do.

We need to communicate that we are all hungry beggers looking for bread....the only difference is that we found some, and are simply trying to share it.

thank for your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Hey just wanted to say that that your observations are spot on Christop. Thanks for listening so well (to the One).