One morning as I was mowing my lawn, a
young mockingbird began to repeatedly dive-bomb at my head. Naturally, my
initial reaction was to find an old badminton racket to scare off the birdie.
It was to no avail.
Mockingbirds are thugs. They often make
me wish they weren’t the State bird of Texas so I could take one out to teach
the others a lesson. But that morning as I was swinging into the air, and no
doubt giving my neighbors a good laugh, words of Jesus began to come to mind.
“But I
say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless
those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. … If you love those who
love you, what credit is that
to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who
do good to you, what credit is that
to you? For even sinners do the same. … But love your enemies, and do good, and
lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will
be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” – Luke 6:27-28, 32-33, 35
Could these values work with a thuggish mockingbird? It was worth a
shot.
I went inside and got some pieces of bread. With the lawnmower not
running, I went over where he was perched, whistled, dropped a
couple large crumbs and went back to mowing. The young mockingbird never went
for the breadcrumbs, but it immediately stopped dive-bombing at me.
Over the last month or so, that mockingbird has become quite friendly. I can recognize it by a particular set of markings on its chest. It
comes out every time I mow, and will often perch just a foot or two away from
me. The little guy once flew over and stood on the handle of my lawnmower while
it was shut off and I was right beside it looking at something on the ground. We
shared a moment together as it just hung out there for about a minute.
The early
Christians didn’t view the command to love our enemies as hyperbole, they
understood it as an imperative and one of the most effective methods of
evangelism.
They comfort their oppressors and make them
their friends. They do good to their enemies. … They follow the commandments of
their Christ with much care, living justly and seriously, just as the Lord
their God commanded them. – Aristides
125CE, Volume 1, p. 443-444 [CD-ROM]
Now we
pray for our enemies and try to win those who hate us unjustly so that they too
may live in accordance with Christ’s wonderful teachings, that they too may
enter into the expectation, that they too may receive the same good things that
we will receive from God, the ruler of the universe. – Justin
Martyr 160CE (cited in Eberhard Arnold, The
Early Christians in Their Own Words, fourth edition, p. 106.)
I realize how difficult those words are to swallow. I really do. I’m a
Texan, and Texans scoff at the idea of loving enemies. Texans don’t really do
the whole turn the other cheek thing. If you slap a Texan on the right cheek,
you may get fired upon, and it’ll probably be legal. That is the culture I’ve
always lived in.
The way
of Jesus, however, calls us to not regard anyone from a worldly point of view.
Instead of seeing enemies as threats to security and safety, we are
called to view them as potential friends and family. And the more I've pondered Jesus’
sacrifice for all of humanity and the early Christians’ passion to see all
people embrace Christ as Lord, the more my beliefs have changed.
I’m not against gun ownership, but I am for all human life. In all
situations. From the womb to the tomb. For, as Jesus has demonstrated to us on
the cross, the only way to stop cycles of violence is to absorb it. Not only
does that method have the power to stop cycles of violence, it can turn
mass-murderers into missionaries.
Once again, though, I won’t pretend like loving and blessing enemies is
an easy task. It’s usually an excruciating endeavor. But when it is done with
sincerity, the power of the gospel is unleashed.
There was once a woman at a previous church I worked at who spread a
vicious rumor about me designed to destroy my ministry and marriage.
Eventually, she was found out, and admitted to what she did. I tried hard to
keep it from affecting me, but to tell the truth, I was bitter toward her for a
couple of years and we did not exactly get along.
Later on after I became the interim pastor of that church, the same lady
began to feel overwhelmed by difficulties within her family. One Sunday as I
was walking through the parking lot, I saw her weeping beside her car. I passed
her by, but then was reprimanded by the Holy Spirit to go back and pray with
her.
I had a brief argument with God, but then by grace submitted to His
promptings and went outside. I told her I knew things were rough for her and
her loved ones, and I was sorry. I put my arm around her shoulder and asked if
I could pray for her. She said yes.
From that day forward, things were different between us. We didn’t
instantly become best friends, but it wasn’t cold like before. She would give
me give me hugs when we said hello. The power of the gospel was growing like a
mustard seed.
No comments:
Post a Comment