It’s war and no one goes
Series: Metamorphosis | Bible text: Matthew 5:43–47
Make Love, not War («Make love, not war»). This catchphrase sums up love of enemies succinctly. Instead of war, followers of Jesus are to respond to hostility with love. The Father in heaven serves as a model for an exceptional lifestyle. He is not only a role model, but he wants to transform us into this character through metamorphosis.
Carlos Ortiz, the pastor of the fastest growing church in Buenos Aires, told a story at a conference. He had been a pastor for many years and preached every Sunday. This Sunday, when he opened his Bible to preach, he could not say anything but: «Love one another!». His wife thought he was going crazy. It was very embarrassing. After a few minutes he got up again and said: «Love one another!«And after a certain time again: «Love one another!«Then he remained seated. In time, a man among the thousands of people attending the service began to talk to his neighbour. He asked the man, whom he did not know, if he could help him in some way. And then another and another and finally hundreds began to communicate with the neighbours. At the end of that service, 28 unemployed people had found jobs and many single mothers got help for their children. If only the pastor had given a good sermon about love, 28 people would have gone home without jobs. The tragedy is: nobody would have cared! Carlos Ortiz repeated this the next Sunday and the Sunday after. After three weeks, 300 members left his church. Carlos said: «It is the best thing that could have happened to us.» These 300 people were not interested in Christian life at all, but only in good preaching.
What are you interested in? In the Christian life or in good sermons? The Sermon on the Mount is interested in the Christian life; in virtues and a character that is more and more like the example of God.
Who is an enemy?
«You have heard that the Law of Moses says: «Love your neighbour» and hate your enemy. But I say: Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!»(Matthew 5:43f NLB). In vain we will look in the Torah for the commandment to hate our enemies. This commandment does not exist. It is that the statement: «Thou shalt love thy neighbour» was interpreted by some rabbis as: «You shall only love thy neighbour». Therefore, one of the great debates among the rabbis revolved around the question: «Who is my neighbour?» They also confronted Jesus with this question (Luke 10:29). This was the occasion for the parable of the Good Samaritan. A man was left injured on the side of the road after an attack. In turn, a Jewish priest, a temple servant and a Samaritan passed by. The first two looked away and changed sides of the road. The Samaritan undertook an elaborate relief operation. The Samaritans were among the greatest enemies of the Jews at that time. At the end, Jesus asked the group: «Now, which of the three do you think was next for the man who was attacked by robbers?»(Luke 10:36 NLB). Who is my neighbour? Everyone! And – I cannot decide from my optics who my neighbour is, but the need of the other makes me his neighbour. When I see a need and become aware of it, I automatically become the neighbour.
Enemies can also be people who have a completely different personality and you keep rubbing up against them. Sometimes a competitor also becomes an enemy because he or she steals your thunder. Maybe your enemy sits on the same board and tries to push through the diametrically different project than you do. My father-in-law was a Green cantonal councillor. When a mishap happened to him, he used to say jokingly: «That was the SVP!«For the car importer, the climate activists are enemies. An enemy is a person who either needs your help, who you find strange, who has a completely different opinion, who wants to harm you or who is constantly on your nerves. Sometimes people become enemies without us wanting them to. Friedrich Schiller writes: «The most pious cannot remain at peace if the wicked neighbour does not like it.»
How do we deal with the enemy?
The metamorphosis is about becoming more and more like the Father in heaven. How does God deal with people who do not ask for him and even reject him? Jesus gives us the answer: «Thus you act like true children of your Father in heaven. For he makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike.»(Matthew 5:45 NLB). God makes the sun rise on his enemies and sends rain. He provides for their well-being – just as he provides for the well-being of his followers. So Christians are not favoured. A jellyfish does not distinguish whether it stings a Christian or an atheist. Even in the case of victims of traffic accidents, the rate is no lower than usual among people who believe in Jesus. This fact that God blesses ingrates has always irritated people. «Why are the wicked doing so well?«Asaph asks (Psalm 73:3f; cf. Jeremiah 12:1). The external circumstances are on average the same for all people. The reason for this is that God does not study whom He should be friendly to and whom He should not. The heavenly Father is good in his nature. He is love. «All that is good and perfect is given to us from above, from God who created all the lights of heaven. Unlike them, he does not change, nor alternate between light and darkness»(James 1:17 NLB). Later on, when Jesus has come again and the Last Judgement has taken place, it will be different. The Bible speaks of two states of heaven and hell. Heaven is the place where God’s goodness and mercy can be experienced in ultimate consequence and perfection. In hell, on the other hand, people experience how God’s sun and rain will fail altogether. That must be terrible!
What does a person gain from honouring God if he nevertheless experiences the same suffering? A follower of Jesus is never alone. God is always with him. «Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.»(Psalm 23:4 LUT).
Praying for «enemies»: Jewish thinking understands love as a concrete action and not a feeling. What does Jesus expect from his followers when they experience opposition? That they do not react with hatred, but turn their feelings into prayer. This is a way of making love concrete. The goal of prayer is that the enemy ceases to be an enemy. Only Almighty God can bring that about. Prayer is a powerful weapon. It makes the «enemy relationship» unstable from one side. The Jewish tradition says: Pray for the enemy, that he may serve God. Who is a great one? He who makes someone who hates him into someone who loves him. Those who are oppressed and do not oppress, who hear their abuse and do not return it, who act out of love and rejoice in suffering – about them the Scripture says: «But let those who love you grow in strength like the rising sun!»(Judges 5:31 NLB).
What makes the Christian life special?
«If you love only those who love you, what is so special about that? Even the bribe-taking tax collectors do that. If you are only kind to your friends, what makes you different from other people? Even those who do not know God do that»(Matthew 5:46f NLB). On another occasion Jesus explains how a Christian can distinguish himself from others: «Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend them money! And do not worry because they may not return it to you. Then your reward in heaven will be great and you will truly act like children of the Most High, for He also does good to the ungrateful and the wicked.»(Luke 6:35 NLB). Solomon, by the way, already proclaimed the love of enemies in the Old Testament: «If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him drink. So you will gather burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.»(Proverbs 25:21f NLB).
«Imagine it’s war and no one goes there.» That is beautifully said. But in the sense of the sermon text, such avoidance tactics are not enough. What is required is the way of love. In this sense I would like to say: «Make Love – not War».
Corrie ten Boom had an impressive experience of this. After a sermon in a Munich church, she came face to face with her former tormentor from the Ravensbrück concentration camp who had tortured and humiliated her. After the sermon, he approached her and said to her: «You mentioned Ravensbrück in your sermon». «I was a guard there. But that is over«he continued. «I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for all the cruelties I did there. But I also want to hear it from their mouths. Can you forgive me?«Then she describes her inner struggle and how the memory of her sister Betsie, who perished in Ravensbrück, awakens in her. She goes on to write: «The message of God’s forgiveness has one crucial prerequisite: that we forgive those who are guilty of us. «If you do not forgive men their trespasses», says Jesus, «neither will the Father in heaven forgive your transgressions.«I knew that – not only as a commandment from God, but also from daily experience. Since the end of the war, I had been running the home for victims of the Nazi regime in Bloemendaal, and it was there that I could feel it with my hands: Only those who could forgive their former enemies were able to find their way back and start again, no matter what physical condition they were in. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. That was as simple as it was terrible. And I stood there with my cold heart. But forgiveness is not a feeling – I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can act without regard to the temperature of the heart. «Jesus, help me», I prayed softly. «I can raise my hand. At least I can do that. You have to do the feeling.«Woodenly, mechanically, I placed my hand in the man’s outstretched hand. As I did so, something incredible happened. The movement originated in my shoulder, it flowed into my arm and jumped into the clasped hand. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being. Tears came to my eyes. «I forgive you, brother» I cried. «With all my heart.» For a long moment we held hands, the former warden and the former prisoner. I had never experienced God’s love as intensely as at that moment.
I had never experienced God’s love as intensely as at that moment. That is interesting. The Corries act of love activated God’s love. She chose to love and the love was there! «Let us love, for he first loved us»(1 John 4:19 LUT). It is about being so shaped by the nature of God in our hearts that we can love even our enemies. Whoever asks for open eyes and God’s love will experience: He who feels what he sees, does what he can.
Possible questions for the small groups
Read Bible text: Matthew 5:43–47
- Who becomes your neighbour through his need? Who is your enemy? Whom do you avoid?
- In which constellation could you make the «enemy relationship» unstable from your side?
- What are the concrete ways to love a person? What does Jesus recommend? What does Solomon mean?
- How did Jesus himself live love of enemies?
- Have you experienced how you were gifted with God’s love when you overcame to love?
