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Love your Enemies

 Have you heard the name, Daryl Davis? Not a local man, lives somewhere over on the East Coast. He is a Black man who deliberately makes friends with Klan members, white nationalists, and even shows up for their trials to tell the judge they are good people who need help. By his own count, 200 white men have left the Klan, 40 of them have handed Daryl their robes as their robes on the way out. As you can imagine, those who know about him and have seen him standing with people wearing Confederate Flags and Nazi symbols believe he is only hurting Black people and giving aid and comfort to the enemy. 

What does it mean to love our enemies? How do we even define who is our enemies in our world and society today? We can talk about countries and how it seems that Russia is our enemy right now though we are not at war with them and even if they further invade Ukraine we are not sending troops to fight them or declare war. We can talk about religions and how we have been at war with Muslims, and how Christianity made war against the Jews which was often forms of genocide and indigenous religions forbidding the native nations in this country from practicing their spiritual beliefs which was another form of genocide. January 6th was a coup attempt, are we at war with those on the right? Do we really  consider them our enemy? Do they consider us their enemy? 

Jesus did not live in a time of peace and prosperity. Jesus lived in a time of occupation by the Roman Empire, he lived in a time of great conflict where the Jews were fighting among themselves, the Pharisees, the Sadduccees, the Essenes, and the Temple. Jesus lived in a time where you didn't trust outsiders and even had to fear your neighbor informing on you if you were trying to organize or rebel. Jesus was crucified because he threatened the centers of religious power of his day and was seen as a leader of a rebellion by the occupying Roman government. So when Jesus tells the crowd to, "Love their enemy!" he is not just talking about pie in the sky theology. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is getting into trouble because he is eating with "sinners and tax collectors (those who work for the Roman government)." He was probably not winning any friends among the poor and outcast because he also ate with the Pharisees and healed the slave of a Roman centurion. Even as he was being nailed to the cross, he asked God for forgive the soldiers, "For they know not what they do."

Joseph showed this type of love with his family, his brothers who wanted to kill him, who sold him into slavery, and lied to their father about what happened to him. I have to admit, when I am watching a movie and the villain is getting caught, it is satisfying to see them die. Watching the news and hearing about how Trump lost his accounting firm and has to testify, I am getting smug that he may be going to jail, at the very least, getting that shine off of his reality star shtick. I had lots of revenge dreams about the bullies I encountered in high school and have lots of snark to share amongst friends against the other side of the political spectrum. It is very hard to care for those who in word and action don't seem to care about you or those who you care about, especially when hateful and hurtful words and actions are taken.

We also have to remember Paul's wisdom in Romans that we battle not flesh and blood, but powers and principalities. It is racism that Daryl Davis is battling, by seeing the person who is created in God's image and not the hate, the Robe, the swastikas', or the blind ignorance. I know I don't have that kind of strength to start going to MAGA rallies or Klan meetings and hold my tongue and be patient for them to change their minds and see the light. 

How do we stand against the powers and principalities of hate, greed, racism, sexism, homophobia, and all the other crap that pollutes our community, our country, and this world? How do we love the person and crowds who are filled with these things and seem unrepentant and even gleeful in their show of power? We first admit that it isn't easy and that we can't do it alone. Secondly, we work and strive to fill ourselves with God's perfect love that casts out all fear. "Do not be afraid!" is said again and again in the scriptures. We then don't sugarcoat or ignore the words and actions of hate and we stand against them and stand up for the least of these, those without a voice. But as they shout and proclaim hate, we proclaim justice, we proclaim love, and we offer them a better way to live in this world. Again, it is not easy, it takes all our heart, mind, soul, and strength to begin and go through this. But, however, nonetheless, if we just love those who love us, how are we any better?   

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