INTRODUCTION: Our Scripture Reading today is part of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” where he gives practical advice to his disciples and the crowds regarding how to live out their faith. I will be reading this passage from a paraphrase of the Bible that translates the text into contemporary language, which can help us understand more clearly the meaning of the words. May God’s Spirit guide us as we hear and learn together.
Scripture: Matthew 5:43-48 (The Message)
[Jesus said] "You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best-the sun to warm and the rain to nourish-to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."
Sermon: “Love Your Enemies”
People do not always treat each other well. And I’m not just talking about people we’ve seen on the news lately. In interpersonal relationships, people can behave in ways that are selfish, disrespectful, destructive. Neighbors can rant and then defriend us on Facebook because of our political views; vindictive ex-spouses can use the kids as a bargaining chip in order to get what they want; greedy employers can make ridiculous profits for themselves on the backs of their hard-working, low paid employees.
In situations like these, the antagonism in the relationship can rise to the point where we begin to think of the other person as our enemy. In such a situation, how should we behave? Or, to put it in a Christian framework—what would Jesus want us to do?
Today’s Scripture offers some guidance that might help us answer that question. Jesus says, “…love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.”
It sounds good, doesn’t it? But it raises a lot of questions. First of all the question, “How do we define “enemy”?”
The dictionary defines the term enemy on two levels:
1) On an interpersonal level: An enemy is “a person who engages in antagonistic activities against another…”
2) On an international level: An enemy is “a hostile nation or state.”
When Jesus uses the term enemy, he does not actually define it, but from the context of the rest of the chapter-- when he talks about turning the other cheek, going the extra mile-- it’s clear that he is talking on an interpersonal level, not an international one. He is talking about situations where one person engages in antagonistic activities against another and thus could be called a personal “enemy,” and he gives guidance regarding how one should respond in a way that de-escalates such enemy behavior.
Now, over the centuries, I know preachers and theologians have looked at this passage and have extrapolated the guidance Jesus gives for dealing with a personal enemy to interactions within and between nations. And, while much can be learned from such expanded thinking, it is important, first, to understand--and practice--how Jesus wants us to deal with our own personal enemies before we start theorizing about how we should behave on a national or international level. Because unless we master how to deal effectively on an interpersonal level with the individuals who oppose us, there is no way we will be able to master how to deal effectively on a national or international level with opposing parties or enemies of state.
So, this sermon will focus on the level of interpersonal interactions: how do we love our enemies? Maybe it’s the neighbor who gossips about us, the boss who devalues our work, the relative who sees us only through a lens of criticism, the stranger who cuts us off in traffic. How do we let them, in the words of our scripture, “bring out the best in us, not the worst”?
The next line in the scripture gives us practical advice on how to do just that: “When someone gives you a hard time,” says Jesus, “respond with the energies of prayer.”
Rather than reacting negatively, say, with a sharp tongue, a withering look, an improper hand gesture, Jesus tells us, channel your energy into something positive—start with prayer.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. says it this way, if we want to love our enemies, we need to “begin by looking at ourselves.” In a sermon preached in Alabama back in 1957, Rev. Dr. King graciously suggests that maybe it’s because we’re so focused, as Jesus says elsewhere in scripture, on the little speck in our brother’s eye, that we totally miss the huge plank in our own. We need to remove the plank from our own eye first, King says, and recognize “that within the best of us there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good.” (MLK in a sermon Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, on 17 November 1957.)
Rev. Dr. King’s words are even more powerful when we realize that he was preaching in the South at a time when Jim Crow laws were in place that kept black people segregated, barred the vast majority of black people from voting, severely limited their opportunities to go to college, and stopped them from holding decent-paying jobs or even obtaining loans to buy houses. And when blacks dared to protest such blatantly unfair practices, they were often beaten, arrested, and even killed. Rev. Dr. King had every right to see white people as his enemy--and the enemy of all black people--and to hate them for it, but he didn’t. He advised his black brothers and sisters in Christ to look at themselves and recognize their own flawed humanity before they saw the flawed humanity of the whites around them and called them to account for their behavior.
Wow! If Rev. Dr. King could advise his community--who were in such a position of vulnerability in society-- to love their enemies, then how much more should we, as white people of privilege, do the same? When we prayerfully make an honest assessment of ourselves, seeing our flaws as well as our strengths, then we also can begin to make an honest assessment of our enemies, whomever we deem them to be, seeing their strengths as well as their flaws, understanding that they too are human beings, not so very different from us. If we take this perspective, loving them becomes a little bit easier.
But the question still remains, “Why? Why should we expend any energy praying for or loving our enemies? Isn’t it just a pious waste of time?” The truth is, “No, it’s not a waste.” In fact, the only force strong enough to quench hatred is love. We’ve seen this played out in our own lives, time and time again, haven’t we? Think back on the arguments you’ve had with people. Think about the arguments that have ended well, that have led to reconciliation. I dare say that those are NOT the arguments where our main strategy has been reciting all of the faults of the other person or saying the meanest things we can think of in order to hurt them as much as they have hurt us. (Not that any of us have ever had any arguments like that… J.)
The arguments that end well are the ones where we stop and take a deep breath and pray and say with as much humility and honesty as we can muster, “Maybe I’m not seeing the whole picture here. Maybe I’m at least partially wrong. Can you tell me why you believe what you believe?” By the grace of God, if we can say something like that to someone who is giving us a hard time, we go a long way toward diffusing the situation--and preparing the way for an honest discussion where we can each be heard, facts can come to light, and reconciliation can potentially begin. We also go a long way toward centering our own selves in the Peace of Christ (and saving ourselves from stomach ulcers.)
But Jesus doesn’t say, “Love your enemies” just so we that we can live at peace with our neighbors or save ourselves from ulcers—though, both of those are certainly good outcomes. More importantly, Jesus says to love our enemies because “This is what God does. God gives God’s best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.” If this is what God does, and if our highest goal is to follow in God’s way, then why would we want to do anything else?
Our scripture says it like this, “You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
Let me close with an example. Many, many years ago, in a church far, far away, I was once engaged in what felt like a battle of cosmic proportions with the Superintendent of Sunday School. To summarize, she and I completely disagreed as to whether or not it was appropriate for a certain individual to teach the junior high Sunday school class.
We couldn’t come to an agreement between us, so I scheduled a meeting with the Pastoral Relations Committee, the group in the church that helped facilitate dialogue and brainstorm solutions. I invited her to come. Well, I confess that I came to that meeting loaded for bear. Not only had I prepared a well-thought out, logical argument as to why I was right and she was wrong, I was also bristling with anger and negative energy. But here’s what happened. When the meeting started, before I even got a chance to lay out my argument or vent my anger, the Superintendent of Sunday School, the woman I had come to view mainly as an enemy, led off by saying something like this, “I’ve been thinking and praying a lot about this. I decided to give Rev. Marlayna the benefit of the doubt because she is my sister in Christ.”
My jaw dropped when she said that, and all the angry wind went out of my sails. I was surprised, amazed, and embarrassed at her incredibly gracious response—embarrassed because up until that point it had not occurred to me to be nearly as gracious.
What would our world be like if everyone prayerfully practiced this kind of generous graciousness? I dare say it would be a world where most of us would want to live. As our country--our world--becomes more and more divided, can we be the ones to model the gracious love that is the only force that can free us from division? And let me be clear, being gracious does not mean being silent when we witness injustice. It means asking questions from a stance of humility and being clear about our own positions without allowing ourselves to use the same hate-filled speech as those who may stand against us.
May God give us the grace and strength to live out the words of Jesus: “to let our enemies bring out the best in us and not the worst.” Amen.
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA
[Earlier versions of this sermon were written, edited and preached by Marlayna on 2/22/15 and 1/20/19]