Matthew 5:43-48 - Listen
43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
My friend - who is my walking buddy and dear, dear friend- we were discussing the subject of being kind to hateful people yesterday. This is not one of my better attributes. I personally like to be offended until a sharp verbal stick jabs out, as long as the hypocrisy is avoided. Avoidance of jerks is fine with me, as well. I think frenemies are unhealthy. So, I do not speak from perfect experience in loving my enemies.
My friend said she had overcome someone who was unkind in 6th grade by killing an outspoken jerk with kindness. She said the unpleasant girl used sarcastic comments because she was unhappy. I remembered something that always touches me: my best friend, in kindergarten, lived 4 houses down from me and the boy next door to her was a 6 or 7 year old. He was huge to us. Mark used to lurk in his front yard, with a hill, and when I’d leave to go home, he’d use try to body slam me down the hill. Several body slams for each evening. I was afraid of him, on that hill, he looked two feet taller than me.
One day, Mark was running up to me, slammed into me and I was falling back. In desperation, I reached around him and held on to him – like a hug. We were both very surprised. Mark looked so surprised, that instead of screaming like a caveman, his face worked with a lot of different emotions. Eventually his face changed to being pleased. And instead of continuing to bounce me down the hill. He swiftly left. I went home being very pleased with myself, instead of being afraid.
The next evening Mark charged at me yelling like a caveman. I waited until he was close enough and threw my arms around him. He was perfectly still and quiet until I let go. I smiled and started to leave, he waited for me to get about 15 feet again and began the stampeding screaming. I turned hugged him again and we repeated the process. It was an evening ritual (with a lot of smiling) for about a week, until some neighborhood grownup made a gushy comment of how sweet. That killed that.
The next evening, Mark was waiting, he really was puzzled. No more smiling. He was turning to go to his backyard and unhappy. He was leaving, I knew the game was over. I ran at him making caveman screams, he turned back with a ferociously mean face, and I opened my arms to indicate I was going to hug him. The unhappy look was gone, he really enjoyed running from me and screaming I was trying to hug him. This evening ritual went on a long time.
Several years later, the family moved. Because I was older, the neighbors told me the rest of Mark’s family life. Mark’s mother was an aspiring (& became famous) artist, what I didn’t know was, Mark’s mother put all her 3 kids outside after breakfast and they weren’t allowed back in the house until dark. Mark wasn’t just lurking outside, he was alone as it was getting to be dark.
Forgiveness is a process. Graciousness has to be acquired. If you are like me, and we are both novices at loving our enemies, we can both ask God to forgive us and to forgive them. We can pray for God the Father to help bring peace. We will look for His grace to grow in this situation. I know the people like Mark in this world would appreciate it.
My friend said she had overcome someone who was unkind in 6th grade by killing an outspoken jerk with kindness. She said the unpleasant girl used sarcastic comments because she was unhappy. I remembered something that always touches me: my best friend, in kindergarten, lived 4 houses down from me and the boy next door to her was a 6 or 7 year old. He was huge to us. Mark used to lurk in his front yard, with a hill, and when I’d leave to go home, he’d use try to body slam me down the hill. Several body slams for each evening. I was afraid of him, on that hill, he looked two feet taller than me.
One day, Mark was running up to me, slammed into me and I was falling back. In desperation, I reached around him and held on to him – like a hug. We were both very surprised. Mark looked so surprised, that instead of screaming like a caveman, his face worked with a lot of different emotions. Eventually his face changed to being pleased. And instead of continuing to bounce me down the hill. He swiftly left. I went home being very pleased with myself, instead of being afraid.
The next evening Mark charged at me yelling like a caveman. I waited until he was close enough and threw my arms around him. He was perfectly still and quiet until I let go. I smiled and started to leave, he waited for me to get about 15 feet again and began the stampeding screaming. I turned hugged him again and we repeated the process. It was an evening ritual (with a lot of smiling) for about a week, until some neighborhood grownup made a gushy comment of how sweet. That killed that.
The next evening, Mark was waiting, he really was puzzled. No more smiling. He was turning to go to his backyard and unhappy. He was leaving, I knew the game was over. I ran at him making caveman screams, he turned back with a ferociously mean face, and I opened my arms to indicate I was going to hug him. The unhappy look was gone, he really enjoyed running from me and screaming I was trying to hug him. This evening ritual went on a long time.
Several years later, the family moved. Because I was older, the neighbors told me the rest of Mark’s family life. Mark’s mother was an aspiring (& became famous) artist, what I didn’t know was, Mark’s mother put all her 3 kids outside after breakfast and they weren’t allowed back in the house until dark. Mark wasn’t just lurking outside, he was alone as it was getting to be dark.
Forgiveness is a process. Graciousness has to be acquired. If you are like me, and we are both novices at loving our enemies, we can both ask God to forgive us and to forgive them. We can pray for God the Father to help bring peace. We will look for His grace to grow in this situation. I know the people like Mark in this world would appreciate it.
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