Love Your Enemies

People make mistakes. We all do. Jesus talked about forgiveness in the Gospel lesson we read this past Sunday. The trouble is that he required us to forgive our enemies. It is hard enough to forgive our friends and the people we love when they mess up. It is even harder when their mistakes cost us or wound us or greatly impact our lives. They may say, “Sorry!” but that doesn’t erase the pain or restore what was damaged or lost. Somehow it feels like saying, “I’m sorry” isn’t enough.

This week I had someone say they are sorry. That was nice. The trouble is they have absolutely no idea of the devastating impact that what they did had on me and a large group of others. Ultimately, it cost them, too, but I’m not sure they will ever connect the dots or really accept responsibility. “Sorry!” they said, but it didn’t feel like nearly enough.

Forgiveness always has been one of my best things. I don’t really know why. Maybe it is that I know how deeply flawed I am, how many mistakes I make, and how consistently I need forgiving. Even when I was a child, my mother said I was genetically incapable of holding a grudge. That is absolutely true EXCEPT when the person I need to forgive is oblivious of the pain and destruction they have caused in the lives of other people. If I’m the one hurt I’m tough enough to take it, learn from it, accept responsibility for my part of it and move on, but when others are hurt it is another matter.

Well, it is another matter to me, but it doesn’t seem to be another matter to Jesus. About some things Jesus is vague and can be interpreted many ways. This is not one of them. He couldn’t have been clearer. In fact, he gave specific and radical examples. “They hit you on one cheek, offer them the other. They sue for your coat, give them your cloak. They make you walk a mile, walk two.”

The real trouble with this “love your enemies” stuff is that it means you have to actually have enemies. Dang.

by Michael Piazza
Center for Progressive Renewal