There are benefits for never smoking, never drinking alcoholic beverages, exercising regularly, eating well and having never been overweight. Just to make sure that I am OK, every day I take my aspirin, my vitamin D, my calcium pill and an Aleve for a little arthritis in my knees (too many years playing football).
Last Sunday, as usual, Darlene and I worshipped with like-minded believers. I paused and acknowledged that life is a precious gift from God. I heard an excellent sermon. I left wanting to be a better person and ready to put in more days doing good in the name of Jesus. But I confess that I need more than Sunday worship. I need to have a periodic checkup not just on my heart, lungs and prostate, but on my soul.
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As I read, I came to verses 43 and 44 of chapter 5. “You have heard it 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.”
The impact of these simple words of instruction is significant. Before I go to sleep tonight, I face an unpleasant task. I have to face my list of enemies, perceived and real, and decide how I am to love them. I know that my own spiritual well-being is at stake. To refuse to love, places my own soul under stress that is not healthy. The final step is not easy. Praying for my children, my grandchildren, my family and my church is quite natural. But Jesus pushes me to another level of caring. Before I can claim peaceful rest, I must pray for the good of those on my enemies list.
Does this command to love enemies have an application in our community life?
Last evening I received a call from a long-time friend. He was calling from jail. I quickly slipped out and visited him. My friend described the incident for which he was arrested as minor and felt that he had done nothing worthy of a charge of any kind. The arresting officer was charging him with a felony. Not having access to facts, I had to withhold my own assessment. This afternoon he appeared in court. I was there. Quickly the attorneys and the judge recognized that the incident did not rise to the level of a felony. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. The case was calendared for tomorrow. Again, I will be there.
Honesty calls for some background. My friend has had some serious problems with the law. The charges involved drugs and alcohol. Since his last period of incarceration, five years have passed. He has a job, has married and he and his wife are expecting their first child.
I anticipate the process in court. The district attorney will refuse to dismiss. Citing his past record, the DA will describe my friend as scum of the earth My friend will be advised to plead “no contest” to a misdemeanor charge. If my friend pleads “not guilty,” a jury trial will be scheduled. He is presumed not guilty until a decision is made by a jury of his peers.
To be free while awaiting a jury trial, bail, a third-party custodian and an ankle monitor may be required. The temptation is to plead “no contest,” pay a fine, accept “time served” (three days) and leave. If my friend hires a skilled attorney, I doubt that a jury will find him guilty. What would you do?
The debacle that I have just described will cost the state and my friend’s family thousands of dollars. Employment has been disrupted, and my friend’s family is put under stress.
I share this true story as a parable of what happens in life when human interactions are perceived as adversarial. This is not the workings of a healthy society. Would not the Jesus approach serve everyone better? The Jesus formula for life needs to have a public hearing. Enemies, real or perceived, are to be loved. They are worthy of our prayers.
Is there a reason that good police work cannot be acts of kindness to the benefit of all.
Did you catch the recent article by Sen. Jim Webb in Parade magazine? The United States imprisons people five times the world’s average. One of every 31 adult Americans is in prison or on supervised release.
Are Americans that bad or is our way of handling those who violate a law that dismal? Why are not ministers and churches making the Jesus way an urgent option in the way we work with offending people? Love your enemies and pray for them.
Alaska fits the national pattern. Alaska prisons are a huge growth industry. No department of state government in Alaska is failing so badly as the Department of Corrections. We have a clear choice. We can build more prisons, or we can take the advice of Jesus. Love our enemies, pray for them, even set them free.
One concluding example. Have we despised Cuba long enough? Let’s make a friend of a long-time enemy. Love our enemies. Do good for our enemies. Pray for our enemies. Normalize relationships with our enemies. In the case of Cuba, the National Baseball League should award Havana a franchise.
Reading the Sermon on the Mount is good for my soul. I suspect it would be good for the whole world.
The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister living in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.
Comments
1 comment(s)Tom wrote on Apr 8, 2009 5:10 AM: