Loving thy enemy
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
A commentary on living in a time of Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and a Presidential Election
I am aware that this title alone may start an instant war on social media. Before you get too bent out of shape, take a moment to breathe and read. The point of this blog is not to give you answers or to start an argument. Rather, as we approach the end of this election season, I find it vital to begin posturing our hearts towards listening, the plight of the other, and learning to love not just our neighbor, but more importantly, our enemy.
Many are predicting conflict post-election. More than that, many are expecting violence. If there was ever a time for this message, it is now. I simply hope it is not too late.
I know many have written on these subjects, many persons for which I admire greatly. Thus, I do not necessarily believe I can contribute something of great profundity. But, nevertheless, I would like to offer some reflections from my personal experience and scripture as we enter the post-election season.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
I grew up in Cincinnati, OH, the center of erupting race riots in 2001; I was 6 years old. In April, of that year an unarmed 19-year old boy named Timothy Thomas was gunned down by a white police officer. Protests, which began peacefully, quickly escalated into violent riots that ravaged Over-the-Rhine, a primarily impoverished community in the heart of the city. It was the largest riot seen since the LA demonstrations nearly a decade earlier.
The damage was devastating to the neighborhood, but more than that it was yet another reminder to the black community that their lives did not matter.
I remember these riots as a six year old because my family was planting a church in Over-the-Rhine. As luck (or providence) would have it, our church began meeting shortly before the shooting of Timothy Thomas. Our building, as pictured below, was in the middle of vine street, the thick of the riots. My dad recalls going to the church after three days of rioting to check on the building only to find it just as he had left it. We discovered a couple of known drug dealers had guarded the building from looting and fire knowing it was the home of a new church.
I never had the privilege of ignorance. I was surrounded by the suffering of my black brothers and sisters at a very young age. I was confronted with the privilege of my skin color every day. I went to my majority white private school in the suburbs where I had access to some of the best education, extracurricular activities, and all of my basic bodily needs only to return to Over-the-Rhine where I was the only white girl surrounded by kids my age suffering from abuse, drugs, prostitution, rotating foster homes, inferior education, and hunger.
As a young kid, it was impossible to ignore the effects of race on quality of life. It was impossible to ignore the issue of race in America.
Although Cincinnati learned much from these riots undergoing some reform, Timothy Thomas was largely forgotten along with the other 14 African-American men killed by police officers from 1996-2001. To be honest, I had to do some research to remember Timothy’s first name.
Similarly to Timothy, Over-the-Rhine largely forgot the black community. In the 15 years after the incident, Over-the-Rine was gentrified and much of the poor, majority black community was pushed several miles away.
Here we are almost 20 years later. Is it any wonder people are crying Black Lives Matter?
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
I remember having a conversation with some coworkers in early February 2020 about an NPR podcast I had heard regarding the Coronavirus. At the moment, I remember thinking, this could be terrifying should it reach the US. I hope it does not. Little did I know the effects this virus would have on our world over the next several months.
I was in the same room as a confirmed COVID case and was required to quarantine for a week. The day I was released, March 26, my husband and I went on a walk to breath in the fresh air. But, not everyone was so lucky. Shortly after, I learned of a dear friend’s father who had died suddenly from COVID. His age was similar to that of my father’s and he had no pre-existing conditions.
I have known many who have died. I know many who have survived. I am not unique in this experience; I recognize this is nothing special. But nonetheless, here we all are trying to navigate a moment where we know very little about a recently discovered virus that has impacted so many.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
As a kid, I spent all of my summers at the neighborhood pool. My siblings and I were pool rats. We would spend hours and hours playing marco polo, fishing for diving sticks, and seeing who could hold their breath the longest. Being a highly competitive sister, I always wanted to win. I was such a sore loser.
To make matters worse, my parents used to call my sister Annie a fish. She was such a fast swimmer and could hold her breath forever. I had met my match as the competitive, cut throat older sister. Time after time, I would try to twist the rules in my favor, talk my way out of a loss, or get in a fight on account of losing. I remember my parents instructing me to be a gracious loser, to treat Annie as I would like to be treated. They were trying to teach me basic human decency; they wanted me to learn to care for the other regardless of how I felt.
At the end of the day, I had to understand that my communicated love for Annie was so much more important than winning a pool game or argument.
As a person who loves Jesus, I must recognize my duty to love, as outlined by Christ, supersedes political matters, affiliation, arguments, and, dare I say, voting. I must care more about serving people, God’s image-bearers, than being right or winning.
Greg Boyd in his book Myth of a Christian Nation says it best:
“Our [referring to people who follow Jesus] central job is not to solve the world’s problems. Our job is to draw our entire life from Christ and manifest that life to others. Nothing could be simpler-and nothing more challenging. Perhaps this explains why we have allowed ourselves to be so thoroughly co-opted by the world. It’s hard to communicate to a prostitute her unsurpassable worth by taking up a cross for her, serving her for years, gradually changing her on the inside, and slowly winning the trust to speak into her life (and letting her speak into our life, for we too are sinners). Indeed this sort of Calvary-like life requires one to die to self. It is much easier, and more gratifying to assume a morally superior stance and feel good about doing our Christian Duty to vote against the sin of prostitution.” Perhaps this explains why many evangelicals spend more time fighting against certain sinners in the political arena than they do sacrificing for those sinners.”
As we are forced to confront November 3, I find myself wondering, are we more interested in winning than serving those in need all around us?
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus says in Matthew 5:43-47, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
The ability to love those you like is easy! Even those who do not love Jesus do that well. What defines you as one who loves Jesus is one who loves their enemy. The word used in this verse for love is more than just a tolerance or Midwestern-nice. It is “generous, warm, costly self-sacrifice for another’s good. ‘Greet’ refers to more than a simple hello, namely, heartfelt expressions of desire for the other person’s welfare.”
Jesus is not asking us to simply pray for our enemies. He is asking us to do MUCH MUCH more. He is asking us to love them, the kind of love that says “I would die for you.” After-all, is that not what Jesus did? He died for the very people who would painfully betray Him day in and day out, you and me.
In a time of COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, and a Presidential election, love thy enemy in ALL things and yes, that includes things posted on social media. May this become ever more important and engrained in our hearts post-November 3.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
