Are You The Enemy?
In Jon Tyson’s book, Beautiful Resistance-The Joy of Conviction In a Culture of Compromise, he recounts the fascinating story of how Martin Luther King dealt with a man who attacked him while giving a speech in Birmingham, Alabama. The man’s name was Roy James, a 24 year old New Yorker and member of the American Nazi Party. In the middle of the speech, James rushed the stage and began pummeling King with non-stop punches. King’s aides and supporters started to rush toward the stage to pull the man off of him, but King raised his hands and told them to stop. King then lowered his arms as he locked eyes with James, almost inviting him to hit him again. Confused by what just happened and fully expecting to be beaten to death by the mob, he just stood there in stunned silence as King embraced him in a bear hug and began to pray. The crowd then started singing as James wept in King’s embrace. Later, King introduced the man to the crowd as if he was a valued invited guest.
Why did King allow this man to beat him? Why didn’t he allow the crowd to take revenge on this racist Nazi? The answer is that Dr. King was practicing love of his enemy as commanded by Jesus. In Matthew’s account of the Sermon on The Mount Jesus says, “ you have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth’. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5: 38-39). Jesus later expands on this even further when he says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven:” (Matthew 5 :43-48).
Given the violent nature of the time, people must have been dumbfounded by this teaching of unconditional love of one’s enemies. Instead of calling them to a violent revolution against the Roman oppressors and religious condemnation of those deemed unclean, he called them to love, care, and pray for them. As Jon Tyson said, “Jesus’ kingdom is the kind of kingdom where enemies are invited, loved, forgiven, justified, sanctified and made sons and daughters of God”.
Unfortunately, what I see today from many fellow Christians on social media and in the public square stands in opposition to our Lord’s call to love our enemies. Instead, I have witnessed the vilification and dehumanization of our fellow man because of differences of opinion relative to politics, race, religious ideology, and just about anything else that makes us think of each other as “The Other”.
We must remember however that we are all made in the image of God and he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good. the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5: 45). More importantly , we must realize that we also were once considered enemies of God. Paul says in Colossians 1:21-22, “ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation”
So how do we treat others who are opposed to us? The answer can be found in how Christ treated us when we were opposed to him. Did he condemn us, call us names, dehumanize us and treat us with disrespect and dishonor? The answer of course is no. His response was to lay down his life for us on the cross even though we were “the other”. He loved us enough to die for us even when we were his enemy. By doing so, he convicted each of us with his overwhelming display of sacrificial love which compelled us to accept his grace.
We are called by Jesus to pick up our cross and follow him by reflecting his loving image and grace to the rest of the world. Not sharing God’s grace by denying that same grace to others, even our enemies, is a disservice to the kingdom of God. It is a disservice for two reasons. First, it results in disobedience to God by ignoring his call of unconditional love for our fellow man. Second, it harms the kingdom because it will repel others from receiving the gospel when we display the same traits as non-believers. As Jesus reminds us, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5: 46-47).
Let us move forward into the new year with a fresh attitude of grace for others. Let’s not distinguish between neighbors and enemies. In doing so, we will do our part to promote the peace of Christ that is so desperately needed in our society today. Remember that through the death of Jesus and the acceptance of his grace, we are swept up into God’s love for all people….even enemies like us.
