#parisattacks2015

Killing the Hostility

Like everyone, the news over the weekend made me sick with anger. But I have nothing new to add to that discussion. We all feel it, and rightly so. As I write this and as you read it, governments are planning and carrying out their responses. There will be retribution in some form or another. That is the burden of men and women in a different position of leadership than myself. They are in my prayers.

So, since we all agree it was awful and since the proper channels are being employed to deal with it in more concrete terms, let's turn our attention to something a little more abstract.

More than any form of retribution, what the world needs is an outpouring of true and selfless love. I do not mean a nice feeling that overcomes you when you see someone who you are fond of. Love has nothing to do with how you feel.

This is the kind of love that kneels down and helps a suffering stranger in a dangerous part of town. This is the kind of love that looks in the eye of the one who spits in your face and still offers a kind word. This is the stubborn, furious, indestructible love that refuses to be an enemy. The kind of love that lays down its life for another rather than seeking to take life for itself.

Love is the great revenge.

If any of you know me, then you know I write from a Christian perspective. I believe in a God who created a world that he loved and cherishes. The God I serve would rather die on a cross than see any of his creation--even those who do not worship him--suffer.  If there is a life I feel is worthy of copying, it is Jesus'. I have never come close, but I try.

You see, Jesus did not not kill anyone, nor did he command others to kill in his name, but for some reason, people were willing to follow him to the death. Jesus announced the kingdom of God, but he did not coerce anyone into serving him in it. Jesus changed the world, but the fire he ignited brought unity to people otherwise divided by giving them good news instead of bringing division by spreading fear.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul writes of Jesus that “he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”

Jesus sought to end the meaningless divisions between people, the bigotry, the jealousy, and the fear--and so committed was he to this pursuit that he was willing to die to bring reconciliation to those divided.

This does not mean that governments should not respond when their citizens are attacked. I am no pacifist. It is the job of the strong to protect the weak against injustice. What it means is that we must be careful as individuals not to let our hearts become hardened to the point that we think of our enemies the way our enemies think of us. The first response that many of us had and might even still be having is the desire for vengeance. And with that comes a tendency to view our enemies as less than ourselves.

This is why Jesus told his followers to pray for their enemies. When you pray for someone, your heart holds them in a place of patience and kindness and mercy. And as long as your heart is oriented towards goodness, it cannot reflect evil. It is the job of people of faith, no matter how hard it is, to lift everyone--even our enemies--to the Lord in prayer.

Because even those who are not like us, who hate us, who wish us dead, even they are creations of the same God who we serve. Whether or not they believe it is irrelevant. Jesus did not command us to only pray for those who are like us. He commanded us to pray for everyone.

To what end, though? To be honest, I am not exactly sure. Christ did not make it clear what would happen if we did. But I know that Jesus changed the world, so he was probably on to something.

What I do know is this: darkness is a coward. It shrouds itself in blackness because it cannot abide to face the light. No belief system which denigrates the humanity of others, which views life as irredeemable, which values destruction over celebration, will stand in history against those of us who see life as sacred, who believe everyone can add value to our common humanity, and who rejoice in the outbreak of peace and good will.

I do not fear darkness because I have seen how quickly it retreats from even the faintest glow of light.

Start where you are. If you are a person of faith, then pray that there would be healing and restoration in the midst of this broken moment. But also pray that in the darkest hearts of those who are our enemies, the light of true goodness would pierce through and reveal their sacred humanity even to themselves.

It is a new week. There is work to be done. People far off are doing the job of addressing the politics of all that we have seen. But we are here, and we still have a job to do.