Episodes
Sunday May 05, 2019
Can Enemies Become Friends?
Sunday May 05, 2019
Sunday May 05, 2019
Can Enemies Become Friends?
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC May 5, 2019, the third Sunday of Easter. “Questions Along The Way” series.
What is your definition of “enemy”? As I thought about it, I realized from just how many perspectives and contexts we may come at our question today. Enemies may be groups, or individuals. Enemies may be persons who have done harm to loved ones or to us directly. Enemies may be bullies or those who threaten us. The threat might be to bodies (physical harm) or even to ideologies or ways of life. Enemies may also be personal things with which we struggle—spiritual, physical, or emotional (“depression is the enemy”). We may see others as enemies because of who they are, what they say, or what they do.
It’s common across cultures and centuries for people to grow up being told a story about “those people” as our enemies—that family, town, religion, race, tribe, nation… All the deep-seated and systemic human “isms” and phobias fuel enemy-making movements. What all this has in common is that anything or anyone deemed an enemy, we’re against.
For those of us who’ve spent some time in the Gospel stories and teachings of Jesus, you will know that some of the most radical words Jesus spoke are these: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28) And, as usual, Jesus walks the talk. He didn’t allow violence to be done against those who were threatening violence to him. Jesus prayed for mercy and forgiveness for those who killed him—not after he was all new lifey on the other side of death, but while he was dying. The shock and challenge of this teaching of Jesus never really eases, even after all these years. It’s hard. I mean, we struggle to even comprehend what it means to love a neighbor—remember the one who wanted Jesus to give him some kind of justification for loving only certain people? (Lk 10:29ff.) Jesus followed with a story of a despised—enemy—Samaritan caring for the wounded one along the road. Jesus wasn’t playing.
Our story from Acts today focuses on a known enemy of those who “belonged to the Way” of Jesus. (Acts 9:2) Saul of Tarsus was like the KKK Grand Master of his time and place except instead of racial violence (justified by a perverse claim to Christianity), his violence focused on the followers of Jesus’ Way of life (driven by a twisted version of his Jewish identity). Saul first appears in the story giving approval of the stoning of Stephen for his witness to Jesus (Acts 7:58); and is then described as “ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women,” and committing “them to prison.” (Acts 8:3) Saul is a known killer, a nasty piece of work, the villain of the story. Today’s story recounts Saul traveling to Damascus, some sixty miles from Jerusalem, to hunt down people of the Way who live there.
As Saul makes the journey, the storyteller gives us several common literary cues to know that God is up to something—it’s like the background music in a film that lets you know to brace yourself. We get three classics: “suddenly a light from heaven flashed,” Saul “fell to the ground,” and a voice speaks using the double name address: “Saul, Saul.” This is all serious God stuff! The voice is that of Jesus who doesn’t condemn Saul, but simply asks the question: Why? Why are you doing these terrible things?
I want to pause for just a moment with this question Jesus asks: Why? Why do we persecute one another? Why do we seem to intent on nursing our grievance or prejudice or defensiveness against others? Is it fear? Revenge for some slight or injury from the past? The need to exert control over others or to make ourselves feel better than others? These are questions that could be asked at any time throughout human history. The days in which we live are extraordinary insofar as it’s not only the normal interpersonal stuff or the current, obvious divisions and heinous injustices that stir the pot. There’s a new dynamic I’m unable to concisely define, but that I perceive with growing regularity and intensity. My sense is that it grows out of the shattered public trust in just about anything coupled with great anxiety. I’ve spoken to folks who do counseling and coaching across both religious and secular communities who are finding that even folks who are on the same team for good purposes are turning on one another in ways that are disturbing. So-called liberals or progressives have been great at this for a long time. It is worse than ever. We’re not just dealing with the question of whether enemies may become friends, but whether friends will keep from becoming enemies. I hear Jesus asking, “Why?? And—while I’m asking, why are people who claim my name among the worst perpetrators of hateful judgment and persecution?”
In our story, Jesus who endured all the worst human nastiness and violence and returned to assure us that God’s love remains steadfast even so—that is the one who appears to Saul. I find it curious that the only direction Saul is given is to get up, continue to his destination, and trust that someone will tell him what all this is about. He follows instructions even though he is”—literally and figuratively—“in the dark” for three full days. Maybe, through this divine encounter, Saul realized those he was killing might be telling the truth about Jesus after all. Maybe, in the light of Jesus’ presence and question, Saul became aware of the absurdity and shame of his hatred and violence. Maybe Saul was changed because the one he was persecuting appeared to him without revenge or judgment, but with grace and an invitation to a new possibility for life. Whatever it was, Saul’s journey may have continued to Damascus but it was an entirely new path.
Saul isn’t the only one, however, who was called to do something confusing and life-changing in this story. In a vision, Jesus visited Ananias, a disciple who lived in Damascus, and told him to go and minister to the infamous persecutor, Saul of Tarsus. And not only that, but Ananias learns that Saul—who hunts down and does in followers of the Way—has seen in a vision his face and knows his name! (Acts 9:12) That alone would have made many seek cover. But Ananias fulfills the call of Jesus and crosses enemy lines. Ananias shows up in both vulnerability and power. He knows what Saul has done, knows what Saul could do to him and those he cares about; but the call and presence of the living Christ gives him power to be both brave and compassionate in this moment. Saul had set out to do violence against Ananias and instead of running away or hiding or—worse—doing violence to Saul, Ananias brings restoration and healing for his enemy.
Human community, history, international relations, and interpersonal relationships are complex and full of nuance. There’s no simple or singular answer to our question today of whether enemies can become friends. I might venture to say that sometimes enemies can become friends. But even when it is not possible for an enemy to be a friend, the call is still to love. And, as a reminder, that doesn’t mean having warm, positive feelings about the enemy. It does mean, at a minimum, doing no harm to them. Sometimes, it may mean doing some good.
What we learn from our story today is that the call of love and compassion, so perfectly embodied in Jesus, has a way of setting us on new paths of relationship and reconciliation. Sometimes this may take dramatic form—as with Saul and Ananias or like the well-documented stories of victims of violent crimes becoming friends with the incarcerated person who committed the harmful act.[i] But I imagine most of the time, our experience will be much smaller in scale, though no less life-changing. Because when we are able—by God’s grace and mercy—to release our hatred or anger or defensiveness or prejudice toward someone and move toward reconciliation, our lives change. It’s like a cleansing, a healing, a liberation. It just feels better—body and soul.
What we learn as we travel the Way of Jesus is that we are not created to be against one another, but rather designed to live with and for one another. Why is that so difficult?
[i] http://www.unlikelyfriendsforgive.com/about
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