One of the most disturbing issues in our lives is dealing with our enemies. Thinking of solutions as to how to tackle their enemies consumes almost 60% of an average man’s time. The major portion of a countries recourses is spent on defence and protecting oneself from enemies.
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| Destroying enemies |
Luke 6:27-36 gives the most appropriate answer to the most explored and sought after question in the world; a question to which, perhaps, we ourselves have been searching for an answer, namely, how to destroy our enemies. The simple solution is: destroy your enemies before they destroy you. But the question is: how?
Jesus proposes, ‘destroy
your enemies by loving them’–conquer hatred with love, injustice with means of
nonviolence. ‘Destroy our enemies by
making them our friends, says Abraham Lincoln.
A conscious pilgrimage
from the land of enmities and rivalries to a land of friendships is more vital
and urgent today. Who has not asked this
introspective question? Why the human race, the best of all of God’s creations,
has been so deeply divided and wounded by competitions, cheating, deceiving,
rivalries, and enmity? Humanity stands baffled for an answer.
The millennial contradictions expose to us startling facts. We live in
a world where we have big, magnificent houses but broken families. We have gone
to the moon and returned but have trouble in crossing the street to meet our
neighbour. We have reached the heights of communication but not able to converse
with our own wives, husbands, companions and community members. Our
civilisation is decaying into competition, rivalry, jealousy, and enmity.
It is at this important
juncture, the solution of Jesus becomes more significant. He gives us a new law
of conduct. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you… and do unto
others as you would have others do to you.
Jesus is calling us to
a difficult pilgrimage. He is initiating us to a counter culture movement: a
counter culture movement, to move against the culture of revenge; culture of
competition; a culture of amassing; and a culture of hating and condemning. And
that is the only way to a future for us.
This would demand from
us three things, 1. Understanding, 2. Forgiving, 3. Love.
Firstly, to understand
is to live with the experience of another. It is rightly said that a fully fed
man does not understand the wants of a hungry man. Imagine you were standing to cross the road; a person crosses in front
of you stamping on your feet. You get angry, using abusive words you look at
him, he was turning to say sorry. Only then you understand that he is blind.
What would you feel? Don’t be harsh on people who do not see what we see.
Secondly, forgiving is opening the door for the other person to have a chance
to begin again. Without forgiveness, resentment builds in us, a resentment
which turns into hostility and anger. Hatred and anger eats up our well-being.
Therefore, forgiveness is an absolute necessity for continued human happiness.
Victor Hugo’s classical novel “Les Miserables’ portrays the power of
forgiveness. Jean Valjeen, an young unemployed man, stole a peace of bread to
feed his sister and seven starving children. He was caught and sent to prison.
He becomes bitter and angry in the prison and escapes and reaches a bishop’s
house. The bishop feeds him and looks after him. But in the night he robs the
bishop’s golden candlestick and escapes. But police catches him and brings him
to the bishop. But bishop tells the police “jean Valjeen is no thief but a
friend to whom I had given the candle stick. Jeen Valjeen was stunned by the
mercy and kindness of the bishop to a stranger and changed completely. That is
the power of forgiveness. To the one who strikes on one cheek show the other
one.
Thirdly, it is to have
unconditional love - be it a friend or a foe. It is the love of the merciful
father to his son who has swindled all his wealth. It is the love of Joseph, in
the Old Testament, to his brothers who wanted to kill him. It is the love of
David to Soul who was chasing after his life. Jesus showed the depth of Christian love. When everything turned
against him, Jesus let fall from his lips for the first time in history of the
world a prayer for enemies “father forgive them, for they know not what they
do’.
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