Once we have some understanding where hate comes from, the next challenge is to identify some biblical principles for converting hate into peace. The starting point is the clear positive command of Jesus - not advice, guidance or good option we might consider - but command.
"But I say to those who will hear: Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you." (Luke 6.27) Love of enemies is not meant to be a political manifesto and general rule for civil society. Questions of civil defence, political and military action are not the focus of these words. They are to persecuted disciples. This command is throughout the New Testament a hallmark of the redeemed, an ethical barcode that identifies and defines the forgiven life, the deep footprint of the disciple of the crucified. Love of enemies, refusing to hate, is core to the Christian witness to a God who was in Christ reconciling the world, and has given the ministry of reconciliation to those who are the Body of Christ. What such "doing good" looks like might mean thinking about other things Jesus taught and lived, and died to affirm:
Mercy – Blessed are the merciful, forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us, are transformative truths embedded in the teaching of Jesus and characteristic of the God he reveals. How we see God affects how we see others. God so loved the world is a primary statement, as is "while we were God’s enemies Christ died for us". And the prayer cry of Jesus, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do", bears witness to the God who in Christ steps into the cycle of violence and absorbs the shock waves of hate into a heart ablaze with holiness as judgement and love. Mercy as practice is a generosity of the heart, compassion, caring for, empathy that understands what it’s like to be that other person - the refugee, the abused migrant, the person suspected and rejected because of their faith.
Neighbourliness. The Good Samaritan didn't set out to be good, he set out on a journey and met someone who had been beaten up. The neighbour is whoever is in need – not those I like, but those I can help – random acts of kindness are fair enough, but neighbourliness is intentional, becomes a habit of the heart and a way of being towards others. The neighbour is the person at the parking meter who hasn’t enough money, and to whom you hand over some of your own change, and refuse to give your address when they want to pay it back.
Golden Rule. The same logic as love your neighbour as yourself, and the same command as throughout the Torah about love for the stranger. We want for us and our children safety, to belong, to be accepted, to be free to work and live and buy; to contribute to life around us. So do others, including 'the other'. Ask yourself says Jesus – how do you like to be treated? Respect, friendship, acceptance? ...well be like that to others. If mercy asks what’s it like to be you; Golden rule asks how do I like to be treated.
Hospitality. Doing good includes sharing food, drink, clothes. Food banks are places of social hospitality; food is a gesture of friendship – a coffee is a statement to everyone about colleague, friend, family, partner. When I am seen in public having coffee with someone, it's a social green light to everyone around. This person is my friend, colleague, one whose company I seek and share. That is what my friend was saying by having coffee with a young woman wearing a hajib. That is what the commenter on her FB page needs to learn. (See start of previous post for this important reference)
Free speech There is a compelling case for Christians contradicting tabloid speak by Jesus speak. Not what would Jesus do - what would Jesus say, about the frightened, the vulnerable, the stranger, the immigrant, the refugee - He wouldn't parrot tabloid speak. Christians sin deeply whenever our words are prejudiced, stereotype, discriminate.The drip of toxic thought into the life blood of a community is one of the social sins of our day, practiced with persistent determination by tabloids, who make money by selling junk food for thought. The Christian alternative is in Phil 4.8 - here truly is food, for thought.
Four rule response Following Luke 6.27 Jesus spells it out – love, do good, bless, pray. Jesus is talking about how we are to be towards those who hate, harm and hurt us - those we’ve no time for, our prejudices and stereotypes – each word is an imperative, has the force of a command – love is not feeling but good will; not emotion but moral governor of word and action. Doing good means patient determined kindness; bless means not curse, positive regard for and not wishing harm to, this person; praying for them and for ourselves in relation to them brings the entire network of our relationships into the presence of the God who deals with dividing walls of hostility, give a ministry of reconciliation and calls the peacmakers his children.
(There is a conclusion to this sermon which I'll publish tomorrow)
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