Why
Love Your Enemy?
Fr.
George Smiga
February
21-22, 2004
Luke
6:27-38
When
someone hates you, you have two choices: you can hate them
back or you can refuse to hate. When someone hurts you, you
can respond in two ways: you can hurt them back or you can
refuse to hurt. In today's gospel Jesus makes it clear that
if we wish to be his disciples, we must refuse to hate, refuse
to hurt. This is why he teaches that we are to love our enemies,
and why he enshrines that teaching in the golden rule: “Do
unto others as you would have them do to you.” Since we would
not want others to hate us or hurt us, we should not adopt
hateful or hurtful attitudes towards them.
Now
this teaching to love our enemies, to follow the golden rule
is the most difficult of all Jesus' teachings. We all struggle
against it. We have many objections. It does not make sense.
It is impossible to follow. The people who hurt and hate us
do not deserve our love and forgiveness. We cannot help but
ask, “Why does Jesus want us to do something that is so difficult?
Why is he so insistent that we love our enemies?”
As
I prepared this homily I had the intention of trying to defend
Jesus' teaching. I wanted to come up with a positive and logical
explanation of why it made sense to love our enemy. But I
must admit that I could not craft an argument which completely
convinced me. So I have decided to take another approach.
There
is in philosophy a mode of argumentation that is called the
via negativa . This is Latin for “the negative way”.
What this line of argumentation recognizes is that some issues
are so complex and so elusive that you cannot defend them
or prove them directly. Therefore what you need to do is address
them indirectly, negatively. The via negativa asks,
“What would happen if the inverse of the proposition were
true? What would happen if the opposite of what this proposition
is suggesting were to be followed?” I suggest that the via
negativa is a constructive way of demonstrating why
Jesus' command to love our enemies makes sense.
When
someone hates you, you have two choices: to hate back or to
refuse to hate. Jesus clearly asks us to refuse to hate, to
love our enemies, to do to others as we would have them do
to us. That's his teaching. But it is clear that many people
do not follow his teaching. They may feel that the golden
rule is foolish or impractical. Therefore, they decide to
return hate with hate, to return hurt with hurt. Their golden
rule is: “Do to others as they have done to you.”
Facing
this reality, the via negativa asks, “How is this
approach working for you? Are you satisfied with its results?
The results of this approach are easy to find. Look at the
newspapers. Watch the media. Look at the situation in the
Middle East, in Eastern Europe, in India and Pakistan: “You
hurt us, we'll hurt you.” Look at the retribution that characterizes
the gang violence in our cities. Recognize the number of families
in our society who are addressing their disputes with handguns.
“We're just getting even,” they say. But of course it never
amounts to getting even. Violence grows into an escalating
cycle of destruction and hatred.
How
is “getting even” affecting your relationships? Are you satisfied
with the way hurting and hating back is shaping your life?
Do you find that holding on to resentments with your family
or friends is working for you? Are you satisfied with waiting
for others to suffer as you have suffered? In short, are you
satisfied with the kind of world that emerges when we respond
with hate and hurt, when we do to others as they have done
to us? Most of us would admit that such a world is a disaster.
The
minute we acknowledge that, the via negativa argument
says, “If this approach is not working, if it is a failure,
then the other approach must be true.” The other approach
is that of Jesus, telling us not to hate, not to hurt, but
to respond with forgiveness and love. Now Jesus' approach
is still difficult, but it is the only way to break the cycle
of violence and hatred that is destroying our world and ruining
our lives.
Now
let's be clear: when we talk about loving our enemy, when
we talk about forgiving those who hurt us, we are not denying
our right to defend ourselves. We are not advising that we
accept abuse and manipulation. We are saying that when we
respond to our enemy, we choose to do so in a way that breaks
the cycle of violence rather than feeding it. We choose not
to hate because we know that hating will only lessen our life
and endanger our world.
Jesus'
teaching is not easy. We would all like another option. But
there are only two options on the table. Therefore, if you
are satisfied with the kind of world that results from returning
hate with hate, getting even, treating others as they have
treated you, then reject Jesus' teaching as misguided. But
if that kind of world of increasing violence and hatred sickens
you, then maybe it is time to follow what the Lord commands.
Maybe it is time to love our enemy, to forgive the one who
hurts us, to do to others as we would have them do to us.
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