Sunday Sermon with Dr. King #5
Loving Your Enemies
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be children of your Father which is in heaven.”
~Matthew 5: 43-45
This sermon, Loving Your Enemies, is a tough one for many of us. The sermon from weeks ago, “On Being a Good Neighbor” will appear MUCH easier to accomplish than today’s message from Strength to Love.* It is believed to have been written from jail and preached around Christmastime of 1957 at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.** When I started this blog series, I wanted to examine Dr. King, the pastor, and relay information regarding racial reconciliation, and possible ideas to improve up race relations today, approximately 60 years later. But this sermon, exactly 65 years later, seems very difficult for people to swallow - LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. The ways in which to achieve this, as outlined by Dr. King is not easy for many of us, and many others would disagree with him. Using today’s “cancel culture” as an example, shows that many of us are tired and fed up with being victims or being oppressed. The phrase, “remove the toxic person/behavior” also comes to mind from today’s social media philosophers. So, as we venture back in time with Dr. King, and as he goes further back in time quoting Jesus, let’s keep an open mind while I break this one down.
Dr. King begins by admitting that Jesus’ call to “love your enemies” has been viewed as not possible in actual practice. He even quoted Nietzche’s criticism that “the Christian ethic is designed for the weak and cowardly, and not for the strong and courageous” (p. 43). He poses that people often view Jesus as an impractical idealist, but confirms his view that Jesus is a practical realist. He then breaks it down to two questions: How do we love our enemies? Why should we love our enemies?
How do we love our enemies?
Step 1: Forgive. The forgiveness must always come from the person who has been wronged. Forgiveness is a fresh start, or new beginning. The evil deed must no longer be a mental block impeding the relationship and there must be a reconciliation.
Step 2: The evil deed does not encompass the totality of the person. We all have positives and negatives about ourselves. Can you imagine if someone defined you by your negatives?
Step 3: Do not humiliate or defeat the enemy, instead win his friendship and understanding. This is the definition of agape- the love of God operating in the human heart, having nothing to do with romantic (eros) or reciprocal (philia) love. Under this agape kind of love, “We love the person who does the evil deed, although we hate the deed that he does” (p. 46).
Why should we love our enemies?
Reason 1: “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate” (p. 47). “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that” (p. 47). Dr. King warns us of this chain reaction, or “We shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation” (p. 47).
Reason 2: It “scars the soul and distorts the personality” (p. 47). “Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity (p. 48).
Reason 3: Love is the only way to transform an enemy into a friend.
Reason 4: It helps us realize a unique relationship with God.
Dr. King ends with how this is the answer to racial reconciliation, and also the realization that many will think “Maybe in some distant Utopia….that idea will work, but not in the hard, cold world in which we live” (p. 50). Sixty-five years later, this same world (some may say better, some may say worse), is still here. The Utopia is still distant. However, at the very end, he reiterates that history is full of dark times when people have not listened to Jesus and states, “we shall never be true sons of our heavenly Father until we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us” (p. 52).
Thank you Dr. King. I wonder how you would reflect on this sermon in 2022.
*King, M. L. (1963). Strength to love. New York: Harper & Row.