Romans 12:19-21
“Do not exact justice for yourselves, beloved, but yield place before anger; for it has been written, “‘The exacting of justice is mine, I will requite,’ says the Lord.’” But rather, ‘If your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink; for in doing this you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be vanquished by evil, but vanquish evil with the good.”
If we are truly One in Christ and members of one another, as Paul argues, then what are we to do when someone betrays that connection? Should we respond to their violence with more violence? Not at all. As Paul says, we are all already One in Christ, but some of us may not realize this, or they may have forgotten that we are all connected. This explains why they can harm those who are members of their own body in the first place.
So, if we truly understand our Oneness with Christ and one another, then our response must be in that same spirit of divine connection. In other words, we cannot attack the hand for slapping the face because we would only be doing exactly the same thing to the hand that was done to the face.
Instead, we need to emphasize our connection to the hand and to the face, and to every other member of the body. We do this by feeding the members that are hungry and by showing mercy to the members who need it the most.
This unexpected action of mercy from one member to another is how we “heap burning coals of fire” upon them so that they might awaken from their illusion of separation and realize the connection between all of us.
This is how we overcome evil: not with more evil, but with kindness. It’s how we push back the darkness; not with more darkness, but with light.
In fact, if we respond to evil with more evil, then we have, ourselves, been “vanquished by evil” and the world will only become filled with more evil.
But, if we can remain awake to the beautiful reality of Oneness and divine connection, then we have an opportunity to respond to evil with goodness, and to overcome the darkness with light.
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