The Challenge of Not-Hating Your Enemies

Concerning Retaliation 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;  and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well;  and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

Love for Enemies 

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...

                                                          Matthew 5: 38- 44 NRSV

 I'm currently leading a study group called How to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian, using John Dominic Crossan book with that title as the foundation. There are 16 or 17 participants, about half in-person and half online, from several communities and congregations. This is one of the unexpected windfalls of the pandemic. 

Crossan speaks about the ebb and flow of distributive justice and retributive justice in the bible with his conviction that distributive justice is the primary theme and the foundation for divine love. I like this. 

He notes that the bible is forthright about violence and the tendency for human violence to escalate. He points out that the teaching in Leviticus that "Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered" is actually a practical caution against escalation. 

When we turn to the New Testament and the Sermon on the Mount Jesus takes this is a radically different direction when he advocates a non-violent response to aggression, teaching that Mohandes Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. took to heart.

This morning I received an email notice of an hour-long interview on NPR with two Buddhists, Robert Thurman and Susan Salzburg, with the intriguing title Not-hating Your Enemies: a Practical Guide. I haven't listened yet but I am intrigued. As a teaser Thurman is quoted:

“Buddhism is engaged realism,” Bob says, before speaking about how hate will never overcome hate; only love will. He points us to a helpful first step. Maybe “love” is too hard, or unsafe. “Not-hate” might be an astute and helpful way of stepping outside the energy of enmity.

I would certainly suggest that Christianity is "engaged realism" if we take Jesus seriously -- sadly, we often don't. As Crossan notes, Jesus is easy to read and hard to follow.

We live in a time when polarization and indignation and even hatred seem to be on the rise, and those who purport to be Christians are often leading the way. I find it very unsettling that a brand of Christian extremism seemed to be part of the insurrection in Ottawa where so many were belligerent and aggressive in ways that had nothing to do with the gospel.

I found that my own indignation and anger was escalating and that love was not at the forefront of my visceral response. Maybe beginning with not-hate on the way to Christ's radical love is the beginning. Stepping outside the energy of enmity is wise and practical and so necessary, whether in individual relationships or on the world stage.