Comments on Matthew 5:43-48
Many of the prayers we’ve looked at thus far have pushed the envelope because they don’t seem to be the kind of prayers we’re “supposed” to offer. We’ve heard Jeremiah and Job and Moses express their anger at God, and we’ve heard the psalmist call down curses upon his enemy. And we’ve had at least one prayer that we don’t like for a different reason: no one wants to admit that they were wrong, and that’s what you have to do if you want to pray a prayer of confession like Psalm 51. This passage is different. It’s not as though Jesus is telling us to do something that we really don’t think that we should do. And it’s not as though we have to admit to some weakness or deficiency on our part. This is a prayer that we don’t want to pray. Plain and simple.
Jesus tells us here to pray for those who persecute us. Double-check me if you don’t believe me: it’s right there in verse 44. It’s set in the midst of a larger passage (verses 38-48) that deals with treating our enemies well. There’s a lot that we can say about the rest of the passage, and we should. It’s a call to lead a different kind of life: being kind to people who aren’t kind to us. But since our focus right now is on prayer, it’s this part of the passage that I want deal with. We are supposed to pray for our enemies.
Earlier this year, as part of the Year of Prayer at Old Union Church, we were supposed to pray one day for North Korea. Someone came up to me and asked me about that: what does it mean to pray for North Korea? After all, it’s about as bad of a country as they come, with a self-indulgent psychotic dictator ruining the lives of everyone in the nation, and threatening warfare and destruction against the rest of us. Why should we pray for them? The person I talked with could only think of two options for how to pray for North Korea. The first choice is to pray for God to attack them and wipe them out. And the other choice was to pray for God to bless them. This person really didn’t think that the first choice was what we Christians should be doing, and he didn’t want to do the second one. My suggestion at the time was to pray for God to change North Korea: to help the people suffering under its oppressive government and to open ways for the nation to improve.
So between the two of us, we had come up with three ways to pray for our enemies:
1. To pray for God to punish your enemies.
2. To pray for God to bless your enemies.
3. To pray for God to change your enemies.
Given the context of this passage, I don’t think that the first choice is the one that Jesus had in mind. The whole point of this part of the Sermon on the Mount is for us to be kindly disposed to people who don’t repay us in kind. We are to seek what is best for them, even if they’re not doing the same thing for us. So what is the best thing for our enemies? Maybe it is for them to be blessed: choice #2. Or maybe it is for them to be changed: choice #3. Personally, when it comes to North Korea, I think the best thing for the nation as a whole would be change: a government that cares for its people and respects the international community of nations.
That’s all fine, but as long as we talk about North Korea, we’re not really feeling the full impact of Jesus’ command here for us to pray for our enemies. Sure, North Korea and the United States don’t see eye to eye, to put it mildly. But we’re not in open conflict with them: neither of us is lobbing missiles or throwing troops at each other. To call North Korea our enemy is relatively theoretical. It doesn’t really hit us where we live. So perhaps we can think of other examples: people or situations that really cause problems for us. The shock of Jesus’ command for us to pray for those who persecute us only hits us if we consider someone who is actually persecuting us, making our lives a living hell. It wasn’t theoretical to the people that Jesus was preaching to: the Roman soldiers could force you do to just about anything, they could take whatever they wanted from you, and there wasn’t anything you could do about it. These are the people that Jesus told his followers to pray for. And about a generation later, when Matthew recorded Jesus’ words into the form that we now have, it wasn’t theoretical for his readers either. The early Christians were being attacked and hounded on all sides: by Jews and by pagans. There were official legal persecutions and informal local attacks. Jesus preached his sermon, and Matthew wrote his gospel, to people who knew what it was like to have people do their level best to ruin their lives. So before we can really understand this passage, we need to identify a situation like that in our lives. Who are our real enemies: either personally or collectively? Who is it that is threatening your well-being and opposing your efforts to improve life?
Two weeks ago we studied Psalm 109, which was written by someone in this same situation. But the prayer was very different: it was an appeal for God to treat his enemy brutally. When we looked at it, we said that while we are not to treat people harshly, it’s OK for us to express those feelings about them to God. In a sense, prayers like Psalm 109 can be pressure release valves. If we vent how we feel with God, then we can move along with our lives. God’s not going to curse someone just because we asked him to.
That may be fine, but that’s not far enough for Jesus. The standards that Jesus sets for us as his disciples are incredibly, ridiculously high. It’s a good thing that our salvation doesn’t depend upon us living up to them, to being “perfect,” as Jesus commands at the end of this passage. But to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, we can’t hold bitterness in our heart against someone, but just be careful to express it in safe ways, like prayers to God to curse someone. Jesus wants a deeper change in us, so that this bitterness against our enemies doesn’t even exist anymore. It’s not about directing in a helpful direction; it’s about not having it or feeling it at all. Jesus wants our lives to be so transformed by his grace, by the Holy Spirit, by the new life of the resurrection that he brought to us, that we don’t even want our enemies to be cursed.
That’s a tall order. But if we think that we can just channel our anger and bitterness the right way so that it won’t affect us, we’re fooling ourselves. Sometimes we think that the best way for us, or our children, to deal with anger or rage is to go into a private room, hit a pillow, and scream at the top of our lungs. But as good as that may feel, psychologists tell us that it doesn’t work that way. All that does is reinforce our anger or bitterness. It’s not a matter of venting or channeling it. It’s a matter of resolving it and moving past it or out of it.
Being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, means that you are in the process of becoming a different kind of person. Jesus isn’t looking for us to change our lifestyles or to behave differently. He’s a very demanding Lord: he wants our entire being to change. He wants us to change to the point that prayers like Psalm 109 don’t work for us anymore.
ADDITIONAL POINTS FOR THOUGHT:
We’re called to a higher standard: more than what the average person does.
Our enemies are not necessarily God’s enemies. Don’t be quick to assume that you’re getting it right.
And we may not be on God’s side as much as we think that we are. Humility can be a good thing.
Remember that other people may consider us to be their enemies. Be grateful for the prayers that they’re lifting up for you!
Jesus tells us here to pray for those who persecute us. Double-check me if you don’t believe me: it’s right there in verse 44. It’s set in the midst of a larger passage (verses 38-48) that deals with treating our enemies well. There’s a lot that we can say about the rest of the passage, and we should. It’s a call to lead a different kind of life: being kind to people who aren’t kind to us. But since our focus right now is on prayer, it’s this part of the passage that I want deal with. We are supposed to pray for our enemies.
Earlier this year, as part of the Year of Prayer at Old Union Church, we were supposed to pray one day for North Korea. Someone came up to me and asked me about that: what does it mean to pray for North Korea? After all, it’s about as bad of a country as they come, with a self-indulgent psychotic dictator ruining the lives of everyone in the nation, and threatening warfare and destruction against the rest of us. Why should we pray for them? The person I talked with could only think of two options for how to pray for North Korea. The first choice is to pray for God to attack them and wipe them out. And the other choice was to pray for God to bless them. This person really didn’t think that the first choice was what we Christians should be doing, and he didn’t want to do the second one. My suggestion at the time was to pray for God to change North Korea: to help the people suffering under its oppressive government and to open ways for the nation to improve.
So between the two of us, we had come up with three ways to pray for our enemies:
1. To pray for God to punish your enemies.
2. To pray for God to bless your enemies.
3. To pray for God to change your enemies.
Given the context of this passage, I don’t think that the first choice is the one that Jesus had in mind. The whole point of this part of the Sermon on the Mount is for us to be kindly disposed to people who don’t repay us in kind. We are to seek what is best for them, even if they’re not doing the same thing for us. So what is the best thing for our enemies? Maybe it is for them to be blessed: choice #2. Or maybe it is for them to be changed: choice #3. Personally, when it comes to North Korea, I think the best thing for the nation as a whole would be change: a government that cares for its people and respects the international community of nations.
That’s all fine, but as long as we talk about North Korea, we’re not really feeling the full impact of Jesus’ command here for us to pray for our enemies. Sure, North Korea and the United States don’t see eye to eye, to put it mildly. But we’re not in open conflict with them: neither of us is lobbing missiles or throwing troops at each other. To call North Korea our enemy is relatively theoretical. It doesn’t really hit us where we live. So perhaps we can think of other examples: people or situations that really cause problems for us. The shock of Jesus’ command for us to pray for those who persecute us only hits us if we consider someone who is actually persecuting us, making our lives a living hell. It wasn’t theoretical to the people that Jesus was preaching to: the Roman soldiers could force you do to just about anything, they could take whatever they wanted from you, and there wasn’t anything you could do about it. These are the people that Jesus told his followers to pray for. And about a generation later, when Matthew recorded Jesus’ words into the form that we now have, it wasn’t theoretical for his readers either. The early Christians were being attacked and hounded on all sides: by Jews and by pagans. There were official legal persecutions and informal local attacks. Jesus preached his sermon, and Matthew wrote his gospel, to people who knew what it was like to have people do their level best to ruin their lives. So before we can really understand this passage, we need to identify a situation like that in our lives. Who are our real enemies: either personally or collectively? Who is it that is threatening your well-being and opposing your efforts to improve life?
Two weeks ago we studied Psalm 109, which was written by someone in this same situation. But the prayer was very different: it was an appeal for God to treat his enemy brutally. When we looked at it, we said that while we are not to treat people harshly, it’s OK for us to express those feelings about them to God. In a sense, prayers like Psalm 109 can be pressure release valves. If we vent how we feel with God, then we can move along with our lives. God’s not going to curse someone just because we asked him to.
That may be fine, but that’s not far enough for Jesus. The standards that Jesus sets for us as his disciples are incredibly, ridiculously high. It’s a good thing that our salvation doesn’t depend upon us living up to them, to being “perfect,” as Jesus commands at the end of this passage. But to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, we can’t hold bitterness in our heart against someone, but just be careful to express it in safe ways, like prayers to God to curse someone. Jesus wants a deeper change in us, so that this bitterness against our enemies doesn’t even exist anymore. It’s not about directing in a helpful direction; it’s about not having it or feeling it at all. Jesus wants our lives to be so transformed by his grace, by the Holy Spirit, by the new life of the resurrection that he brought to us, that we don’t even want our enemies to be cursed.
That’s a tall order. But if we think that we can just channel our anger and bitterness the right way so that it won’t affect us, we’re fooling ourselves. Sometimes we think that the best way for us, or our children, to deal with anger or rage is to go into a private room, hit a pillow, and scream at the top of our lungs. But as good as that may feel, psychologists tell us that it doesn’t work that way. All that does is reinforce our anger or bitterness. It’s not a matter of venting or channeling it. It’s a matter of resolving it and moving past it or out of it.
Being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, means that you are in the process of becoming a different kind of person. Jesus isn’t looking for us to change our lifestyles or to behave differently. He’s a very demanding Lord: he wants our entire being to change. He wants us to change to the point that prayers like Psalm 109 don’t work for us anymore.
ADDITIONAL POINTS FOR THOUGHT:
We’re called to a higher standard: more than what the average person does.
Our enemies are not necessarily God’s enemies. Don’t be quick to assume that you’re getting it right.
And we may not be on God’s side as much as we think that we are. Humility can be a good thing.
Remember that other people may consider us to be their enemies. Be grateful for the prayers that they’re lifting up for you!
posted by Rev. Peter de Vries, Old Union Presbyterian Church @ 1:06 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home