I spend a lot of time around the future of our world. Mostly, because I am of that age that I am constantly being reminded about my role as the hope for tomorrow, but also because I work with high school students and go to a major university. While I am in both places, I always (without exception) encounter people reveling in their hatred. It doesn’t really matter the subject – school, work, personal life, whatever – people are always talking about something or someone they hate. For instance, as I was waiting to cross a street today I overheard the following conversation:
I can’t believe they didn’t fix my #@%!ing bike. As soon as I get out of class I am going to call the shop and tell them how much I #@%!ing hate them and demand my money back.
When I first heard this I just laughed to myself about how much this person was overreacting, but as I have thought about it more I have come to see that this is a serious matter. It’s not serious because I really need to fix that person’s perspective; it is of the utmost seriousness because I really need to fix my own perspective. Whether it is someone cutting me off on the freeway or waiting an excessively long time for a venti, extra hot, no foam, vanilla latte, my instinct always seems to be hatred and anger.
In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (Matthew 5:43)
The interesting thing about this statement is that it is note quoting a previous place in scripture. Generally speaking, when Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said…” he is about to quote scripture, but in this case he is not. Some very poor bible scholars have claimed that he is misquoting Leviticus 19:18, but if I know one thing about Jesus it’s that he does not misquote scripture. The latter half of this verse says, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” but nowhere does it say to hate your enemy. It is very likely, that this verse was corrupted by teachers of the day claiming that since love is to be directed specifically at your neighbor, neighbor is not referring to your enemy.
I believe that who corrupted this teaching matters very little because Jesus is not simply offering a criticism of Jewish teachings of the day. What he attacking is central part of human nature. Jesus recognizes clearly that it is the natural human impulse to hate. When Jesus speaks of the close of the age he says:
And many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another…And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:10, 12)
Obviously Jesus is making prophetic statements about the end, but it can tell us something about people in general. We have to remember that this side of heaven, sin will always be the a constant. Because of sin, people will see bad situations in their life and they will turn to hate. They will often claim that what we need is love, and they will be truthful in this way, but they will not turn to it.
For many of the high school students I work with, anger is the only way of dealing with undesirable confrontations, and for many of them violence is the only logical outworking of their anger. Generally as we get older, we learn that violence is not acceptable in society, but that does not mean we learn how to deal with hatred. Instead, we gossip, we harbor bitterness, we practice the fine art of breaking others down and we consistently justify whatever feelings we have. How quickly we forget wisdom in these situations.
Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. (Proverbs 14:29)
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs 15:1)
Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. (Proverbs 19:11)
There is no doubt in my mind that this is why Jesus instructed people to pray, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). We have a very short memory when we are angry. The man who is enraged by getting cut off on the freeway operates under the assumption that he has never done the same to someone else. Even more ridiculous, the person impatiently waiting for their Orange Mocha Frappucino is probably assuming that their barista is a malicious individual who wants to make them late for something.
Yes indeed, hate does make the world go round, but it doesn’t have to be this way. The beloved community that Paul envisioned includes, “bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other” (Colossians 3:13). In Romans he also writes:
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
(Romans 12:17-21)
In this passage, Paul is arguing against the logic the world uses. It is the natural impulse to hate your enemy. The idea is that if they are against you, you should be against them. But Paul flips it around saying that you should do good to your enemy. When he refers to heaping “burning coals on his head,” Paul is not suggesting that this is an attack, but rather it will lead him to repentance. The image of the burning coals is one also used in Proverbs 25:21-22, but is meant to evoke the image of melting away impurities from ore and leaving the precious metals. Or as the poet Thomas Parnell eloquently puts it:
“So artists melt the sullen ore of lead,
By heaping coals of fire upon its head.
In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow,
And pure from dross the silver runs below.”
We must remove ourselves from the cycle of hatred. What we think is natural will only make things worse. As Paul writes, “we must over evil with good”. We must be the love of Jesus to a broken world. We must remind the world that “the love of Christ controls us,” (2 Corinthians 5:14) and that in him “in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:7). We live in a world dominated by hatred, brokenness, and resentment. The Body of Christ need only show the world that these things are not the final word.
