Giving Up Enemies…

Wednesday evening at our Lenten Midweek Prayer service the focus was on Luke 22:47-53. This is the story of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas and his arrest. What caught my eye and my heart though, was the cutting off of the High Priest’s servants ear and Jesus’ healing of that man. One of the practices in Ignatian Spirituality is to let yourself become immersed in the text in such a way that you are there in the midst of it. I remember a television show hosted by Walter Cronkite called “You Are There”. In the series, segments of American history were recreated in such a way that you felt like you were there. It was a tremendous way to engage history and allow it to come alive. As a lifelong history buff and student of history, this show helped capture my imagination and fuel my desire to learn.

Well, as I prepared for the service and for my message, I practiced this Ignatian concept of immersion in the text. I could sense the tension as Judas nervously approached Jesus to kiss and betray him. And the adrenaline was palpable as the disciples asked, “Should we fight for you, Lord?” And why wouldn’t they want to fight! Their Rabbi and friend was being betrayed and forces were there with clubs and swords to take him away! I could hear Peter, the bold and brash, shouting and see his hand go to his sword. “Lord, we aren’t going down without a fight! They may take us, but before they do, we are going to take some of them with us!” And suddenly, “whack”, the ear had been cut off of the servant and blood had been shed. Once that happened, the testosterone level skyrocketed as men prepared to do battle.

What happened next was the last thing anyone would have expected, including the wounded servant of the high priest. Jesus immediately hollered: “Stop! No more of this!” And instead of another sword slash, the hand of our Savior reached out, touched the wounded servant, and healed him! As I immersed myself into the servant’s heart, my own heart raced. Before I could fully respond and begin to feel the full pain of what had just happened, this man, the one I had been told was so horrible that he needed to die, reached out and healed me! We had come to take him with swords, clubs, deceit, and violence. He responded with… Healing! Hey, wait a minute, he is the enemy! He is this theological monster that my master said must be destroyed. Their description of him was not human and yet… He reached out in the midst of violence with compassion and, dare I say it, love?

I can’t imagine how that servant’s heart could have been anything but transformed by the touch of Jesus. Wow! His “enemy” reached out with a healing and loving hand to him. Jesus, who by all rights should have considered us the crowd and the servant to be enemies, didn’t react at all like they expected him to. The mob and the disciples were itching for a fight and Jesus not only told his disciples to put away their swords, he actually healed an Enemy Combatant!

And then I remembered the words of my Lord in Matthew 5:44-45 – “But I say love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven.” Well, not only did Jesus speak those words, he lived them out at his arrest. I remember stories that I have read and heard from the non-violent activism of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. They are examples taken straight from the words of Jesus. By not reacting with violence or hatred to the actions of the aggressor, you don’t buy into the hatred or the false notion of redemptive violence. You show your enemies a better way… A higher way… The way of love!

In today’s world where people scream at each other and vilify each other on Social Media and on the streets, violence and hatred breed. In the end, we have what was described by Gandhi in this famous adaptation of Scripture: “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” There isn’t an easy answer to things like the terror of the Islamic State, Boco Harum, Racism and Sexism, and the countless other “violent haters” in the world and in our own back yard.

As I ponder and pray… As I seek to live my life as a simple Christ-follower… Lord help me to put away my sword. Perhaps if more people put away their swords, problems would be solved in love without the use of violence. I may not be able to fix the entire world, but with the Lord’s help, I can do my part where I am and let the Lord take care of the ripple effect as love conquers fear and enemies hold no control over my heart and soul.