No Can Do

Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. 

Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?

Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount.  But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 

Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” (Luke 6:27-38)

Sorry Lord.  Love my enemies, do good to those who hate me, bless those who curse me, pray for those who mistreat me? To the person who strikes me on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes my cloak, do not withhold even my tunic? No can do. That likely is the best option for those during Jesus’s time who were powerless, oppressed and prosecuted, but not necessarily for today.  

Bullies need to be confronted.  No cheek should be turned to cowardly manipulators seeking power and wealth.  Understanding the other person’s point of view and even seeking compromises are wise, but that is impossible with enemies hell-bent on our destruction.  They must be confronted with truth and an unwillingness to bend to their will and self-aggrandizement.

Am I judging?  Sure, but we must pass judgement on those who wish evil on us, and our nation.  Jesus said: “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.”  Sure, but complacency and acceptance of oppression and such behavior as racism are intolerable.  Tyrants win when those they wish to dominate and subjugate demure.  Evil in any form must be resisted and combated; otherwise, the wicked will rule.

Deacon David Pierce