Defeating Evil with Love
Video Link: https://youtu.be/iQ-ERxDJtZ4
Readings: Philippians 2:1-11, Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40, Luke 6:27-38
Who here struggles with our passage from Luke? This is one of those passages that I come back to, again and again, to remind me that I still have a long way to go. There is still plenty of growth in my journey to be like Christ.
Why do we find this passage so difficult? I think it is because when someone hurts one of us, most of the time we would rather build walls or seek retribution. That is what our desire pushes us toward and we often feel like that is the only real option. Why? What are we afraid of? Do we think we will endlessly be hurt if we don’t? Do we think we'll have nothing left? Do we think there isn't enough love, comfort, or time? The sad reality of all of these feelings is that they show we don't have enough faith. The worry of endless hurt. means that we don't trust God to redeem our pain. A worry that we’ll have nothing left, means that we don't believe enough in a bountiful God. A worry that there is not enough comfort or time is ignoring our relationship with love himself, peace himself who himself is eternity. Challenging our old patterns of reacting is an act of faith.
This passage reminds me of a book called exclusion and embrace. The writer, Miroslav Volf, was a man who lived through the ethnic cleansing of the Yugoslavian War. He knew what it was to experience the worst of humanity, he knows how hard it can be to forgive. He writes that throughout our lives we are made victims by others and by situations, as a response, as a defense we make victims of others. Too often our reply to the offender is to become the offender by retaliating or shunning, we often want others to “feel what it's like” and so the victims often create victims and humanity lives in this cycle of hurt, loss, and separation. We may not realize it, but Miroslav talks about how building walls is as much an act of offense as a deliberate act of retribution as what these walls do is cut someone out of an aspect of our lives.
Another scary reality is that if we respond to the hurt in the way we want to, we are still being controlled by that evil. That hurt, that evil is dictating our lives and perpetuating further evil. An interesting thing about what Jesus does today is that he is attempting to give us back control. If someone takes our cloak, we can't do anything about that and it sucks but if we then give them our shirt, that is an act of hospitality and love. It turns an awful, painful moment into an opportunity to live out Christ. If a Roman Soldier orders you to carry his bag for a mile, go the extra mile and live out God’s gracious service. If someone slaps you, offer the other cheek as well. Okay, this one I still have a lot of struggle with, but again it is an opportunity to sacrifice ourselves for the other, to be our unwavering parent.
Of course, there are times when a relationship is abusive or when an act is so horrendous that we have to pull away. When for the sake of love for the self as well as our neighbor, we need to take ourselves out of the continuous or monumental trauma. In that case, the walls have already been built, the distance has been created and perpetuated. Even still in these situations, we are meant to look for redemption, restoration, and how we might lovingly respond, which I am not pretending is easy or comfortable. In these cases, it takes prayer, discernment and a strong relationship with God to know when to stay and when to leave (Jesus knew when to do both). Love for the self, others, and God will change how we respond to our enemies or tormenters in each situation, but with Christ, it can be an act of love.
This rare pulling away is not an exception to what Jesus is saying, because Jesus is not giving us a rule. He is giving us the way forward. None of us have been asked by a Roman to carry their bag for a mile, but we have been given the opportunity to go the extra mile for another.
Responding to those that hurt us with love, hospitality, and sacrifice as Jesus teaches is taking control of the moment. Doing it Christ’s way transforms the moment into an expression of love. Doing this brings Christ present. It may be that the perpetrator will experience guilt as they watch you carry their bag, it may be that they question such an amazing love as you offer them your shirt, it may be that they relent as they consider a second blow, but those are just great bonuses to the freedom and love that has already been made present, just because you have listened to Christ and been freed from the sin and evil of that moment.
But Christ promises more because he tells us that God is watching and will repay all the debts we accrue and more. This promise, if we really believed it, would destroy all of our fears.
On top of that, this act of forgiveness and powerful love ends that cycle of retributive justice that otherwise would have never ended. This cycle endlessly destroys its perpetrators and victims as it keeps asking for more. This is what Volf says is one of the most important things to understand about our faith. We need to forgive and we need to be forgiven. That is the only time that true reconciliation and embrace can happen. That is the only time that evil and hurt can be changed for the better.
All of this is an up-close and personal kind of love. Most of the time, this cannot be done from far away, from the safety of your house, with a phone between you and the other. That in itself continues the distance, it objectifies the act of love and hurt, instead of making it personal, relational, and present - it more often than not belittles the sacrifice, the humanity and Christ’s presence. Remember, these are acts that put ourselves on the line so that others might know Christ in their midst. Again, uncomfortable, but necessary for Christ’s redemption to work.
How we love our enemy, how we bless those that curse us, how we pray for those who hurt us would seem to be one of the places in our lives where we can make the biggest difference. This is because, through Christ, we can flip that situation and that relationship on its head. Evil and fear can meet face to face with love and hope. The cycle can be destroyed and Christ can be seen.
That is how we can come together across massive distances. But it starts first with our relationship with Jesus. We recognize the amazing way in which God has forgiven us and so we forgive the comparatively little that others have done to us. This is grounded in a humility of understanding the inverse too: God has done everything for us and even the best of us have done little for him.
We can give to people expecting nothing in return because we know God has given a lot more for us. We can give up on judgment and condemnation because we know that we would not stand before the full judgment of God.
More than any of that we give and forgive because that is what Christ did, taught and it is the way to bring his world of love present
We are called to a different life and a different world and so today Jesus challenges us to start living in it.
Questions:
Luke 6:27-38
(27-28) How can we love our enemy? What would that look like?
Why is this difficult?
Why do we want to resist this idea?
Is there something you would rather do?
Why is it important to do all of these things?
(29-30) Why does Jesus use these examples?
How do they subvert our regular pattern/common practice?
How do they subvert retributive justice by responding in a loving way?
(31) How does this verse guide our understanding of others and those perpetrating evil against us?
(32-34) How are we called to be different as Christians?
How could this change the world?
How could it change our relationships?
(35-36) How is this kind of response grounded in our relationship with God?
What do we learn from him? How can our relationship with him give us greater understanding and courage to act in these ways?
Philippians 2:1-11
(1) What encouragement do you have from being united with Christ?
What comfort do you get from knowing his love?
Do you experience a sharing of his Spirit?
What kind of tenderness and compassion flows from these?
(2-4) Why would all of these experiences urge us to listen to what Paul is telling us?
What stands in our way of this kind of unity now?
How does/could the list from vs. 1 empower us to live in such a way?
Why is humility of central importance to such unity?
(5-8) What do we learn from the example of Christ?
How does this change how we relate to one another and ourselves?
(9-11) What does Christ’s exaltation tell us about following his life, faith, and example?
Why is it more important to look for rewards from God, than rewards from creation?
