Without forgiveness, blessing, and love, the killing always starts again.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Lord of the Streets, Houston

February 23, 2025

7 Epiphany, C

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42

Luke 6:27-38

Jesus knew that Rome was going to destroy the nation of Israel. His people, his home, the land he grew up loving, Jesus knew that Rome was going to take it over, destroy the temple, and leave most of the Jewish people no longer living in their ancestral homes. He told of this coming calamity in Luke 21, and knowing that Israel’s enemies were going to destroy them, Jesus taught to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”

What about fight, kill, and destroy your enemies so they don’t destroy you? Wouldn’t that have been better for the people of Israel? Well, for a time, Israel did fight against Rome, and they had some victories and held out as long as they could. A full victory against Rome, however, was simply not something Israel was able to achieve. They were too few and without the discipline and tactics of the Roman army. 

Jesus probably knew this too, but losing a war was not why Jesus said to love your enemies and bless those who curse you. He didn’t qualify his teaching with, “If you know it’s a fight you can’t win,” then love your enemies. No, Jesus simply gave the teaching, “Love your enemies…bless those who curse you,” without qualification or exception. 

So, let’s look at his teaching a little bit. What about those who think you are worthless, stupid, and are prejudiced against you? We can certainly hate those people back. We’d be justified in hating them back, and initial anger and hatred toward those who hate us is exactly how we should feel. Of course we feel hatred toward those who hate us. Jesus teaches us not to stay in that place of hurt and hatred, however, because for one thing, when we hate those who hate us, we prove them right about us. Hating those who hate us, we justify their hatred, at least in their minds. 

Jesus teaches us instead to pray for our enemies and live in love towards those who hate us. By loving our enemies, we prove them wrong about us. Loving our enemies, we may even turn our enemies into our friends. Love your enemies, Jesus taught, and bring healing to the world. 

On the other hand, think about hating your enemies, choosing not to forgive. Think about unforgiveness and the hatred that comes from it. Think about Hamas and the killing and rape their hatred let to. They had legitimate grudges against their enemies, and yet their attacks haven’t turned out well for anyone, not the least for themselves. Thousands of Israelis killed, tens of thousands of Palestinians killed. Hamas’ hatred proved Israel right about them, and so Israel felt totally justified in killing over 50,000 Palestinians. Like Israel fighting against Rome 2000 years ago, Hamas wasn’t able to kill all their enemies, and they lost terribly.

At the same time, in Israel’s destruction of Hamas, they seem to have rather decidedly won. Gaza is destroyed, and most of Hamas’ military operations are gone, and yet, there are Palestinian children who will remember the bombs and the killings from Israel, and in a generation or two, they will likely rise up again against Israel just as Hamas has done, and the cycle of violence will continue. 

Even when we win against our enemies with hearts full of hatred and anger, we may feel at peace for a time, but our enemies have friends and children, and many who care about them, and they’ll remember the hurt we cause, and they will rise up one day. No peace. No healing. No bonds of humanity uniting people back together. No compassion. No mercy. Just hatred, violence, killing, and waiting for the day when the killing starts again. Without forgiveness, blessing, and love, the killing always starts again. 

“Love you enemies…and bless those who curse you,” Jesus taught. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” How lovely it would be if we’d simply trust Jesus and strive every day to do as he taught, but we don’t, partially because we get so caught up in our emotions, and partly because we’re not sure we trust Jesus. 

I know he said to love our enemies, but, well, I need revenge. I’m angry. I’m hurt. They don’t deserve me doing well unto them. They deserve vengeance. True, but we’ve only been at this human life thing for thousands and thousands of years, and violence and revenge has not yet brought the peace and healing we crave. We just keep believing The Adversary’s lies that vengeance will make us feel whole. It hasn’t yet. Vengeance just keeps the cycle of violence going without end.

So, what do we do with our anger and hatred? We give them to God. We offer our rage, our hatred, and our desires for vengeance to God, laying them at the foot of the cross, asking Jesus to do with them as he will. Do others deserve our vengeance? Sure. Let God handle it.

“Refrain from anger,” we’re told in Psalm 37. “Leave rage alone; do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil. Do not fret yourself because of evildoers; do not be jealous of those who do wrong. For they shall soon wither like the grass, and like the green grass fade away.”

Evildoers shall fade away. Ooh, does that mean God’ll kill them? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps instead of killing them, God will help them fade away from our lives. They’ll fade away from our thoughts and our hearts. As we trust in God, and as we join together and care for one another, those evil doers won’t affect us so much.

Think of two people, alone, living on the streets, without enough for an apartment. They’re angry and resentful and want justice for all the people in their lives that brought their misfortune upon them. Alone, they are simply angry and wanting revenge. Together, however, the two of them have enough for a small apartment. They try it. No more railing against those who put them where they were, but instead taking care of one another, letting the evildoers fade away. Instead of lives of fear and solitude, they join together in trust and love, and they find new life supporting one another. 

Let God give judgment to those who need it. Pray for them, for their well-being, and let them fade way so you are no longer consumed by them. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High.” Mercy. Peace. Those sounds like great rewards to me.

As for our desires for justice, the thought that those evildoers deserve our vengeance, Jesus said, that God “is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” That’s weird. God is “kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” That’s weird because that now how we think things should go, and because we’re told that the ways of the wicked are doomed. “God is kind to the wicked,” and “the ways of the wicked are doomed.” How does that work together? Well, as you often hear me say, I don’t know. That’s God’s deal, and thankfully, these judgments aren’t ours to figure out. When we figure them out, we often end up following the ways of the Adversary, with cycles of anger, hatred, killing, leading to further anger, hatred, and killing. 

Break the cycle; Jesus taught. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” without qualification, without exception. Rather than proving your enemies right about you by hating them back, prove your enemies wrong about you by blessing them, loving them, and showing them mercy.