Love your enemies

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When my mother was undergoing cancer treatment in the 1990s, she went through all kinds of interesting states of mind, way beyond Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s measly five.  Elisabeth would have been astounded. 

One of the most unexpected was the “I’m gonna tell you what I think of you before it’s too late” phase. We discovered that Mom was calling up people from her past and telling them all the things she’d been holding back for decades: how they’d disappointed or betrayed her, how they weren’t good enough for their wives/husbands, how they’d made bad decisions. (Myself, I was surprised that Mom had ever held anything back – she could be a real loudmouth when she was wanted to be – but apparently she’d kept a lot of opinions back after all.)

I am my mother’s son. I am full of grudges and unsettled scores. I am terribly self-righteous, just as she was. I only hope that, as the cancer treatment weakens me, I don’t succumb to Mom’s let-‘em-have-it mentality

This is why I was bemused by something that showed up on my Facebook wall a while back: a serious discussion of why you shouldn’t have enemies. To wit:

·        Enemies take up a lot of your valuable time – whether you’re actually taking revenge, or just thinking about it. (This is true, and I hate the idea of wasting time, especially at this point in my life.)

·        Your enemies probably aren’t worth hating as much as you think they are. (Maybe. Some of mine are pretty loathsome.)

·        Most of the world’s religions tell us to be kind to our enemies.

This last one needs some scrutiny. Certainly Jesus tells us to love our enemies. But the God of the Old Testament certainly didn’t mess around with anyone who got in his way. And many modern Christians seem to act as if they loathe whole squadrons of people.

So what’s an unbeliever to do?

Well, I normally don’t like Saint Paul, but in Romans 12:20 he comes up with the perfect reason to do good to your enemies:

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

See? You can make your enemy ashamed of himself by being nice to him. And then, if he doesn’t make friends with you, he presumably goes to hell.

Doesn’t that make you feel better?

It does me a world of good.

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The angry Jesus

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Last year at this time, I did all kinds of Easter-themed blogs.  This year, not so much.  I used to try to feel Christian; then I felt sort of post-Christian; now, I don’t really think about it much.

 

 

But I think the mood of the nation is going in the opposite direction.

 

 

I was asked approximately 17 times this year what I was doing for Easter.  Each time I answered, steadily, that Partner and I weren’t doing anything, that we had no plans, we didn’t really observe the holiday.  No one seemed to believe this.  It’s Easter!  He is risen!  You have to do something!  At least have a ham dinner!

 

 

 

Meh.  (Actually, we did have ham for dinner. But it was nothing out of the ordinary, although it was very good.)

 

 

Anyway: last week I saw this article about the differences between the ways Korean Christians and American Christians think about Jesus.

 

 

Americans, for whatever reason, think of Jesus as the ultimate positive guidance counselor.  They associate him with “love” and “amazement.”

 

 

Korean Christians, on the other hand, associate him with words like “pain” and “suffering.”

 

 

Cultural?  Perhaps.  Probably.

 

 

But wow.

 

 

Now, all you Americans, think about it for a moment.  Jesus (as depicted in the Gospels) is never seen to smile or laugh.  He is, on the contrary, as serious as a heart attack.  He is not depicted in the Gospels as an adorable guy. He did not resemble your football coach, or your pastor, or your favorite movie star.  He was skinny and Semitic and crochety.  He called his own mother “woman”! 

 

 

And a happy Easter Week to all of you.

 

 

(I’ll take Ganesha any day.  He’s usually cheerful, and he is easily placated with sweets.)

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