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One of Our Best Weapons

 You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45) 

          Another Battle Bible passage. This one goes with Ephesians 6:10-18. How do we wage war? Human wisdom tells us that those who aren’t on our side are the enemy, and the only way to win the war is by hating and destroying our enemies. Should we have let the Nazis terrorize Europe? We did let the Communists terrorize the Soviet Union, and they killed at least twice as many of their people as the Nazis did. The same with China. And didn’t some guy point out that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to stand by and let it?

          But Jesus isn’t suggesting that we should say that wrong is right, or evil is good. He’s telling us to separate the actor from the action, the person from the sin. He’s telling us that He wants us to be “like God” in giving general good to all.

          We would rather not be like God in this case. We want to stand in judgment on the person who has done something we proclaim unforgivable. Our judgment may even be correct. What they are doing is evil and we are determined to brand them forever with a sign that will show the world how bad they are, and how righteous we are.

          Jesus rejects that very human option. The only weapon He is approving here is prayer. I have to think of David’s “shatter their teeth” prayers in the Psalms. The focus tends to move from David’s injury to David’s enemies (or his enemies to his injury) and those to David’s God. Those are good prayers. 

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