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When accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. said: "I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of
reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him." If you want to know how cynical Americans are, how chained we are to the bitter realities of life, how flat our imaginations have become, simply read to people Jesus’ words: Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. We immediately cycle into, "Jesus didn’t know our situation today; you can't just love a terrorist or a thief." But I’m not sure Jesus was issuing a rule, or establishing a constitution for government. Jesus was trying to resurrect us out of the death of the 'isness' that we know all too well and to capture our imaginations so that we might glimpse again the 'oughtness' that forever confronts us. I think Jesus said this because he wants to set us free.For some reason, we've decided it's an either/or. We either use good sense or we love our enemies; we either protect ourselves and think safety or we love our enemies. Maybe if we look to the friends of Jesus over time we can begin to see a slightly different story. Let me share about some places I've been or taken my family.
The Cove
ntry Cathedral was built in the middle ages. Then one November night in 1940, during a Luftwaffe blitz, the cathedral was destroyed. The Church members vowed to rebuild, and asked What kind of Church will we be? Sorting through the rubble, one man noticed two old medieval timbers charred by the flames that had fallen into the midst of the knave in the form of a cross. This cross became the high altar erected amid the ruins, and behind that cross they wrote the words "Father forgive." With war still raging with Nazi Germany, they said, "We are going to be the followers of Christ who forgive; when we rebuild this church, it's going to be dedicated to forgiveness, to reconciliation.” And for years they have helped people who do not like one another to talk to one another. Be very clear: in November of 1940 they were not ready to surrender and lose the war. Churchill was still in his bunker in London. The Nazis had to be stopped and everyone in Coventry knew it – but these Christians, still prosecuting a war, said "We will forgive. We will love. We will work for peace."
ntry Cathedral was built in the middle ages. Then one November night in 1940, during a Luftwaffe blitz, the cathedral was destroyed. The Church members vowed to rebuild, and asked What kind of Church will we be? Sorting through the rubble, one man noticed two old medieval timbers charred by the flames that had fallen into the midst of the knave in the form of a cross. This cross became the high altar erected amid the ruins, and behind that cross they wrote the words "Father forgive." With war still raging with Nazi Germany, they said, "We are going to be the followers of Christ who forgive; when we rebuild this church, it's going to be dedicated to forgiveness, to reconciliation.” And for years they have helped people who do not like one another to talk to one another. Be very clear: in November of 1940 they were not ready to surrender and lose the war. Churchill was still in his bunker in London. The Nazis had to be stopped and everyone in Coventry knew it – but these Christians, still prosecuting a war, said "We will forgive. We will love. We will work for peace." In 2006, in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, Charles Roberts entered a one-roo
m Amish school house, held children hostage, and eventually killed six of them. The next day, the grandfather of one of the children who was killed spoke to a crowd that gathered outside the school: "Do not hate this man. He has a father. He has a mother. He has a wife. He has children. He is in the hands of God." The Amish baked food and delivered it to the family of the shooter. They raised money to help the children of the shooter. In Pennsylvania, we need police. We need to do everything possible to protect children. We need to do whatever it takes to fend of whatever it is that happens that makes somebody go crazy and harm children. But the Christians in Nickel Mines said "We will forgive. We will love. We will follow Jesus.”
m Amish school house, held children hostage, and eventually killed six of them. The next day, the grandfather of one of the children who was killed spoke to a crowd that gathered outside the school: "Do not hate this man. He has a father. He has a mother. He has a wife. He has children. He is in the hands of God." The Amish baked food and delivered it to the family of the shooter. They raised money to help the children of the shooter. In Pennsylvania, we need police. We need to do everything possible to protect children. We need to do whatever it takes to fend of whatever it is that happens that makes somebody go crazy and harm children. But the Christians in Nickel Mines said "We will forgive. We will love. We will follow Jesus.” In 1956, Martin Luther King, Jr., was speaking one evening when he was in
terrupted by news that his home was ablaze. He knew that his wife, Coretta, and his young daughter, Yoki, were in the house. I took my son to visit the porch where the bomb detonated, and where a crowd had gathered outside - a very angry crowd in 1956; they were enraged by the KKK and their acts of venomous violence. But King stood in the yard and told them, “Don't do anything panicky. Don't get your weapons. If you have weapons take them home. He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword. Remember what Jesus said. We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love." We need good laws in our land and they need to be enforced so that people's homes aren't bombed, so that people aren't hated because of the color of their skin. But when that broke down in Montgomery, Ala., at least one Christian leader stood up and said "Let's remember what Jesus said. Jesus said Love your enemies.”
terrupted by news that his home was ablaze. He knew that his wife, Coretta, and his young daughter, Yoki, were in the house. I took my son to visit the porch where the bomb detonated, and where a crowd had gathered outside - a very angry crowd in 1956; they were enraged by the KKK and their acts of venomous violence. But King stood in the yard and told them, “Don't do anything panicky. Don't get your weapons. If you have weapons take them home. He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword. Remember what Jesus said. We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love." We need good laws in our land and they need to be enforced so that people's homes aren't bombed, so that people aren't hated because of the color of their skin. But when that broke down in Montgomery, Ala., at least one Christian leader stood up and said "Let's remember what Jesus said. Jesus said Love your enemies.”Recently I got to visit the Dietrich Bonhoeffer home in Berlin – where he wa
s arrested in 1944 by the Gestapo. He lived in jail and concentration camps until being executed just days before the Allies freed Germany. What is amazing is that the prison guards told how much they loved Bonhoeffer, how he listened to them, prayed for them, sang with them. Bonhoeffer loved his enemies. He knew Hitler had to be brought down; he played a small part in a plot to assassinate him – which is why he was imprisoned by the Gestapo in the first place! But when he was in jail, he looked at his enemies and loved them.
s arrested in 1944 by the Gestapo. He lived in jail and concentration camps until being executed just days before the Allies freed Germany. What is amazing is that the prison guards told how much they loved Bonhoeffer, how he listened to them, prayed for them, sang with them. Bonhoeffer loved his enemies. He knew Hitler had to be brought down; he played a small part in a plot to assassinate him – which is why he was imprisoned by the Gestapo in the first place! But when he was in jail, he looked at his enemies and loved them. Why must we have this either-or? Can’t we love our enemies, while also being wise and prudent? Why do we let absurd scenarios (You can’t let a thief walk off with your stuff! or We can’t just let terrorist rampage through America!) release us from Jesus’ imaginative invitation into the “oughtness” of God’s way, which is the liberating hope of “Love your enemies”?
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