Those of us who are children of God find ourselves regularly involved in what appear on the surface to be exactly the same kinds of daily interpersonal transactions as everyone else.
“Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” the Lord asked his would-be followers.
“Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”
Yeah, they do. Thus, when a Christian loves his
enemies and prays for his persecutors, he stands out from the crowd. When he simply
and normally loves his family and greets his friends, he doesn’t.
Rain on the Just
That doesn’t make our normal daily
interpersonal transactions any less Christian, does it? Sure, being a follower
of Christ means extending our love further, and it means extending it to people
toward whom we might not otherwise act with goodwill, with the same selfless
generosity that causes a good God to send rain on just and unjust alike. But the
Christian doesn’t stop loving his family and greeting his friends. To do so would be a denial of the faith.
Rather, these normal everyday actions and choices are invested with greater
love, prayer and care than the equivalent actions of unbelievers, even if no
observer can easily tell them apart.
I would argue it is these normal everyday
actions and choices that take up the bulk of our Christian lives. Let’s face it,
most of us haven’t got a lot of “enemies”.
Come on, that obnoxious Human Resources
lady doesn’t really count, does she?
Find Me Somebody to Hate
That wasn’t the case in first century
Judea, where patriotic Israelites lived in occupied territory. Caesar’s
henchmen would have been quite visible, and reminders of Israel’s bygone
national glory few and far between. In such a historical setting, the
instruction to “go two miles” with anyone who forces you to go one mile suddenly appears both more
comprehensible and a great deal more challenging. The Lord is probably not talking about how his followers ought
to respond to the presumptuous Jewish neighbor who guilts them into helping him carry
a load of wood across town, but rather a Roman overlord treating them like his
personal slave.
Few of us in the Western world in the last
half century or so live under such conditions, though they will almost certainly
come again, giving us an opportunity to show kindness to our oppressors as the Lord did to his. In the meantime, to suggest that the landlord who raised the rent again or the
gossipy neighbor is an “enemy” in the sense the Lord used the word is somewhat
of a stretch. The guy who nicked my Coke from the office fridge was probably just
thirsty, not out to get me. Even the kid who beat me up all the time in
Grade 10 would probably have been decent if I’d just bought his drum kit
like I promised.
Few and Far Between
No, those opportunities to show love to
genuine enemies are thankfully few and far between. If we Westerners are going
to demonstrate Christ-like love on a daily basis, the bulk of it will likely be
to friends, acquaintances and families — at worst, to those who are simply
indifferent to us. Thus Paul reminds the Galatians that they should not grow
weary of doing good, and adds:
“As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
As we launch into a new year, I am reminded
that “doing good” is not a passive occupation. It is not merely a reflex that
goes off when someone unexpectedly interacts with me, but a muscle I can
exercise proactively by looking out for those opportunities of which Paul speaks.
I suggested to my son a little while back
that he take his faith to the next step: that he get up every morning and look
for one good, helpful, useful thing he can do for someone else in his life
without being asked. It’s not the worst advice ever.
And I’m pretty sure most tax collectors don’t do that.
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