Monday, August 14, 2017

Enemies


i had a thought tonight...
at some point, i think we got a little confused about the word "enemy."
today, our enemies seem to be the people we've just...you know: decided we don't like, or that look too different from us, or...i don't even know, really. it's actually rather confusing.
are our enemies the people we hate?
the people who hate us?
are they the people we fear?
the people who've hurt us?
the people we want to hurt?
are they the people we believe are causing some sort of problem or problems in the world?
the people we've just kind of decided that we don't like for some reason - or for no reason at all?
i mean...that's honestly what it feels like. it feels like we just pick some random people/group of people and decide that they're somehow wrong or bad or ugly or responsible or...whatever.
and, frankly, it all feels very, very arbitrary to me.
why should we dislike this or that entire group of people? yeah, there are some duds in there, i'm sure. there are duds in every single group. but isolating an entire group just sounds...
...well, insane. literally.
and here's what i mean, that we seem to have gotten confused about the meaning of the word "enemy" somewhere along the way:
you might remember that Paul talked about enemies, clear back about 2,000 years ago:
"Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink" (Romans 12:20)
so did Jesus, for that matter:
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:43-48)
reading these words, it kind of seems like, back then, an enemy was almost...a friend. i mean, sure, maybe you didn't really like them a whole lot.
but you still treated with kindness and helped them and - heck - even provided for them, if it came down to it. in fact, Jesus commanded us to not only be nice to our enemies, but to actually LOVE them.
nowadays, though, it seems rather like an "enemy" is the person we hate and fear and wish bad things for, and they're the ones we wish would leave "our" country (ha! as if a plot of land "belongs" to anyone).
but...i mean, really now. REALLY: that's not what Jesus and Paul described, is it? really.
so where did the disconnect happen?
when did our enemies change from being people we love into being people we hate?
i don't like it one bit. 😟

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 

the Narrowest Pulse Copyright © 2010 | Designed by: Compartidisimo