Lectionary 22 Romans 12:9-21 David Eck
8/28/11
DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL
---BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD [Rom 12:21]
I. I will forever remember the circumstances surrounding where I was
---When I heard the news of 9/11.
---I was sitting in the church office preparing bulletins
---For the coming Sunday
---When the phone rang
I cannot remember exactly who it was
---But I think it was Jeanne Wagner
---Who asked me if I knew what was happening
Naturally I did not know
---And when the person on the other end of the phone
---Told me about the plane that crashed into the World Trade Center
---I couldn't believe it. It all seemed so unreal
I hung up the phone and went to my computer
---To try to log on to the internet
---But everything was so jammed with activity
---I could only find out a bare minimum of details
Foiled by modern technology
---I reached for my office radio and turned to NPR.
---I was still trying to do the bulletins
---Which was a mistake because my concentration
---Was totally focused on the radio
I sat there in disbelief
---As the radio announcer said
---That one of the two towers had collapsed.
---Surely, I thought, he didn’t really meant it.
---There is NO possible way that tower could have collapsed!
My next thought was of a friend of Gary's and mine, Maria Patterson
---Who worked in the World Trade Center.
---After several attempts of trying to get a phone call into NYC
---I finally reached her home voice mail
---And left a message
I finished my work at the office and headed to Mission Hospital
---To visit a member of our church
---Who had undergone extensive back surgery.
---It was there in his room
---That I caught my first visual images
---Of the devastating events that were unfolding before my eyes
---Which seemed completely surreal and untrue
II. In two weeks it will be the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
---We've been at war with Iraq and Afghanistan
---For more years than a care to remember
We've lost thousands upon thousands of lives on both sides
---We've spent trillions of dollars
---On a war that seems to have no end
It causes me to ask some questions:
---Are we any better off as a society?
---Are we any safer?
---Have we really accomplished anything
---By returning evil for evil?
As we approach the anniversary of 9/11, once again
---I'd like us to reflect on two questions:
---How can we become better rather than bitter
---As result of the lessons learned from 9/11?
---How are we, as Christians, supposed to continue to respond
---To those some in our society have labeled as our enemies?
Well, in wrestling with these questions
---Some Christians take the Old Testament approach
---Saying "an eye for an eye...a tooth for a tooth"
---It's a natural, primal, instinctive response for us .
---Out gut tells us we want to seek revenge upon our attackers
---To pay back those who have persecuted us, plus interest
---Seeking two eyes for an eye
---And a full set of teeth for a tooth
However, the New Testament paints a totally different picture
---Of how we are to respond to those we label our enemies
Jesus, in the 5th chapter of Matthew, said
---"You have heard that it was said,
---'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
---But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer.
---If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;
---And if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well
You have heard that it was said,
--- 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
---But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
---So that you may be children of your Father in heaven" [Mt 5:38-34, Lk 6:27-36]
WOW, Those are hard words to hear
---Especially when our gut tell us we should strike back
---And strike with unrelenting force
Or how about our Romans 12,
---Our second lesson for today, which tells us
---"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
---Do not repay anyone evil for evil,
---But take thought for what is noble in the sight of all
---If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
---Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God
---Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
These are hard words to hear
---They might be the hardest words in the entire Bible.
---We're really big on loving our neighbors
---As much as we love ourselves
---But loving our enemies? Praying for those who persecute us?
---Well, that's a different story altogether!
What do we do with these challenging words
---From our second lesson for today?
---How do we respond to St. Paul's moral imperative
---DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL
---BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD?
How do we respond to the words of our Savior
---Who said LOVE YOUR ENEMIES
---AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU?
Is this actually possible?
---How do we do this after our nation has been wounded so deeply?
III. Well, one thing we don't do is respond like Franklin Graham did
---After the Twin Towers fell.
---Now, you know it's very unusual for me
---To dis a brother in the Lord from the pulpit.
---However, when Franklin Graham said that Islam an evil religion.
---I have to call for a reality check
---Because some of the same moral imperatives we find in the New Testament
---Are also found in the Qur'an
With regard to the subject of loving your enemies
---Chapter 60, verse 7 of the Qur'an says
---IT MAY BE THAT GOD WILL ORDAIN LOVE
---BETWEEN YOU AND THOSE WHOM YOU HOLD AS ENEMIES
---FOR GOD HAS POWER OVER ALL THINGS
---AND GOD IS OFT-FORGIVING, MOST MERCIFUL
Or how about 41:34-35
THE GOOD DEED AND THE EVIL DEED ARE NOT ALIKE
---REPEL THE EVIL DEED WITH ONE WHICH IS BETTER
---THEN LO!, HE BETWEEN WHOM AND YOU THERE WAS ENMITY
---SHALL BECOME AS THOUGH HE WERE A BOSOM FRIEND
---BUT NONE IS GRANTED IT SAVE THOSE WHO ARE STEADFAST
---AND NONE IS GRANTED IT
---SAVE A PERSON OF GREAT FORTUNE
Some Christian leaders would like us to think
---That every Muslim is running around
---Waiting to declare a jihad on the United States.
---However, this is NOT the case.
---I suspect that the majority of Muslims in Afghanistan & Iraq
---Are just like you and me.
---They're trying to find a way
---To provide food, clothing and shelter for their families.
---They're trying to carve out a place of safety and security
---In the midst of uncertain and troublesome times.
It's only the Islamic fundamentalists that are the problem.
---Just like some of our own fundamentalists
---Who justify bombing abortion clinics
---Or committing hate crimes against others in the name of God
IV. The imperatives TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES,
---TO PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE US,
---And DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL
---BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD
---Are an important part of both of our religions,
---Christian and Muslim
They are a uniting force that bring both religious faiths together
---And challenge our gut reactions for retaliation and revenge.
However, Christianity and Islam
---Are not the only world religions
---That contain this moral imperative.
---In fact, the challenge to love our enemies
---Appears in virtually every other faith tradition as well
In Buddhist teachings we read
---CONQUER ANGER BY LOVE
---CONQUER EVIL BY GOOD
---CONQUER THE STINGY BY GIVING
---CONQUER THE LIAR BY TRUTH (Dhammapada 223)
In Jewish Rabbinic literature we read
---AID AN ENEMY BEFORE YOU AID A FRIEND
---TO SUBDUE HATRED (Tosefta, Baba Metzia 2.26)
In the Tao Te Ching we read
---DO GOOD TO HIM WHO HAS DONE YOU AN INJURY (Tao Te Ching 63)
In Hinduism we read
---A SUPERIOR BEING DOE NOT RENDER EVIL FOR EVIL
---THIS IS A MAXIM ONE SHOULD OBSERVE
---THE ORNAMENT OF VIRTUOUS PERSONS IS THEIR CONDUCT
---ONE SHOULD NEVER HARM THE WICKED OR THE GOOD
---OR EVEN CRIMINALS MERITING DEATH
---A NOBLE SOUL WILL EVER EXERCISE COMPASSION
---EVEN TOWARDS THOSE WHO ENJOY INJURING OTHERS
---OR THOSE OF CRUEL DEEDS
---WHEN THEY ARE ACTUALLY COMMITTING THEM
---FOR WHO IS WITHOUT FAULT? (Ramayana, Yuddha Kanda 115)
It appears that there is no getting escaping this imperative
---No matter what our religious tradition is
Therefore, as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11
---The challenge is before us
---As well as every other faith community to
---NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL
---BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD .
---TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES
---AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE US
We cannot avoid these moral imperatives
---But must embrace them and learn from them
I'm sure if you're like me
---These words are a very difficult challenge
I'm certain there is a part of all of us
---That thinks these words are simply wishful thinking.
---They sound great, but they are impossible to put into practice
V. The Dhammapada, a Buddhist wisdom source,
---Wrestles with this very idea, saying
---"The prescription to love your enemy and to requite evil with good
---Is sometimes thought of as an impractical and perfectionist ethic
---Able to be practiced only by a few exceptional souls.
---But, in fact, this doctrine is widely taught in all religions
---As a fundamental principle for pursuing relationships with others.
The person who insists upon vengeance or retribution
---Is not necessarily committing a crime,
---But neither will his act of revenge
---Be helpful to spiritual advancement
Revenge, which requites evil with evil,
---Only multiplies evil in the world,
---While love, by in which one strives to overcome evil with good,
---Spreads goodness in the world.
True love is unconditional and impartial
---Thus the metaphor of the sun that shines down on all life
---It is tested and proven by encounters with those who are difficult to love
---Where true love prevails, there no enemies are found.
The concluding passages dispute the prescription to love your enemy
---When it apparently contravenes the principles of justice and right
---Sometimes the best way to love an evil person is to make him face justice
---Or to hinder him from doing wrong
---Nevertheless, these corrective actions should be done
---With a loving heart and with the other person's welfare uppermost in mind."
VI. I could not have said it better myself
---And as we take these Buddhist words of wisdom into consideration
---We begin to get an idea of what Paul was talking about
---When he told us DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL
---BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD
As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11
---I do believe our country is justified
---In trying to rid the world of terrorism.
---However we must do so, as the Dhammapada says,
---"With a loving heart
---And with the other person's welfare uppermost in mind"
Martin Luther King Jr. once said that
---LOVE IS THE ONLY FORCE CAPABLE
---OF TRANSFORMING AN ENEMY INTO A FRIEND.
---I believe this with all of my heart
If we are to come out of our war on terrorism intact
---As Christians and as a nation
---We must overcome evil with good
We must separate the people of the Middle East
---From the terrorists who live there.
We must realize that most of these people are good people
We cannot simply write off a nation
---Because great evil exists within it
Rather we must take the high road
---We must provide aid for the suffering for those who suffer in the Middle East
---We must love them to insure that we are not overcome by evil
---But overcome evil with good. Amen
