On March 7, 1965, a group of about 600 civil rights protesters marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. [image: Selma 1]
The march, which was a protest primarily against unjust voting laws which kept Black Americans from registering, was met by an armed police force on the far side of the bridge.
As the march continued across the bridge the police charged the unarmed protesters, overran them with horses, threw tear gas canisters, and attacked them with Billy clubs and bullwhips, leaving at least one protester unconscious and many more bloodied and injured.
Now, this was hardly the first time peaceful civil rights protests had erupted into violence, but what made this one different was that the whole scene was captured on film and broadcast that night across the entire country.
“Bloody Sunday,” as it became known, led to demonstrations across the nation, and the introduction of voting rights legislation by president Lyndon B. Johnson, who called what happened in Selma “a turning point in US history.”
I bring this all up because even though some of the stories from the Civil Rights Movement have become somewhat familiar, I don’t think we always understand the fact that the protestors being attacked in Selma,
or being beaten while sitting at all-white lunch counters,
or being tear-gassed at sit-ins in segregated parks,
or being arrested for sitting in the wrong seat on the bus…
These activists were implementing a very specific strategy. They were practicing what’s called active, non-violent resistance.
By paying the penalties for unjust laws and by willingly suffering at the hands of those in power for doing nothing wrong, they were giving their community, including their oppressors, a chance to see these shameful, abusive actions for what they were and offering them an opportunity to change.
They weren’t seeking to destroy their enemies. They were inviting them to join what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called a “beloved community.”
Why? Because they believed this was precisely what Jesus had taught them to do.
SERIES RECAP
Welcome back. We are in week 2 of our series, “(Un)divided,” exploring Jesus’ provocative and challenging call for his followers to love their enemies.
And in my opinion, Dr. King and the protestors he led, are some of the best, most tangible examples of people in the modern world putting these teachings to the test.
And although they are rather extreme examples - most of the enemies we face today are nothing like theirs - we still have a lot to learn from what they experienced.
Because our world is full of enemies, isn’t it? We live in a deeply tribalistic time, everyone is in their own, customized echo chamber of outrage and vitriol online, hatred of others has become par for the course.
And now we’re in an election year… It’s only going to get worse.
We have a lot to learn if we - the Church - genuinely want to offer this world a vision of a new way to live. So, please turn with me again to Luke 6:27-49, Page _______.
While you’re doing that, I’m going to pray for us.
Let’s start by revisiting what we talked about last week. I’ll read what we’ve covered so far.
Luke 6:27-31
“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you.
So, “love your enemies.”
Last week we began by trying to define what an enemy even is. Here’s the definition I gave:
Enemy - anyone standing in the way of your joy, flourishing, and wellbeing
For the protesters in Selma, their enemies were those in power who wanted to keep segregation alive. For Jesus’ original audience, enemies could have been rival farmers or Roman centurions.
Today, enemies can take all kinds of forms. You might have people committing injustice against you, but you might just have a neighbor who hates you and makes your life miserable.
Your enemy could be “those people” you read about online with terrible political views that you think will make your life worse.
It could even be a former friend who is spreading rumors about you.
The point is, all of these people are standing in the way of your joy, flourishing, or wellbeing. In big ways and small, they are your enemies.
And Jesus wants you to love them. How? By practicing what I call redemptive non-retribution.
You’ll have to go back and listen to last week’s message to fully understand what I mean by this, but here it is in a nutshell.
When an enemy tries to take advantage of you (like slapping you, as Jesus says), you don’t fight back. But you also don’t lie down like a doormat. Instead, you practice a “third way.” You offer them the other cheek.
In other words, you take their aggression and insults onto yourself willingly, and even invite more, in the hopes that by bringing their injustice or shameful acts into the light in such an unexpected way, your enemies will be shamed by the broader community for their actions or stunned into transformation when they see their own actions for what they are.
The result of this redemptive non-retribution is that it breaks the tit-for-tat cycle of abuse and hate in our world and even invites your enemies to become friends. Just as Jesus did on the cross for us.
Dr. King and the Civil Rights protesters he led understood this. That’s why they willingly allowed themselves to be blasted with water cannons and attacked by dogs.
They weren’t doormats. They went out there willingly. But they also weren’t fighting back because they knew that violence only led to more violence, unless someone put a stop to it.
They were practicing a third way - redemptive non-retribution - in the hopes that it would change our world. And in their case, it did.
Here’s how Dr. King described the heart behind this approach:
“To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the center of our lives.” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King took the command of Jesus seriously. Love your enemies. Because this is the only real way to heal our broken world.
DIFFERENT FROM THE DEFAULT
So that brings us to our next big question. How? How do we actually do this?
How do we overcome the very human tendency to seek retribution when we are wronged? How do we stop from lashing out when someone hurts us? How do we love the people we’re supposed to hate?
Well, today we’re going to try to answer this question from a very high level, starting with some fundamental truths about what it means to follow Jesus. Then, next week, we’ll try to get extremely practical.
So let’s dive in to the next few verses of this passage and explore what Jesus says in more detail.
Luke 6:32-34
“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.”
To understand what Jesus is saying here, we have to talk about two words he uses several times in this passage.
The first is this word “sinners.” In Greek it’s
hamartōlos - sinner, one who is wicked, a depraved person
The reason Jesus mentions “sinners” is not because he’s being judgmental. He knows everybody sins.
It’s because “sinners” as a category of people, was how his original audience thought of the more disreputable folks in their society. Prostitutes, tax collectors, thieves…
“Those are the sinners over there. Not like us.”
Hold that thought and I’ll tell you about the second important word. It’s what the NLT translates as “credit.” The Greek word is
charis - grace/favor/gift/benefit
In the ancient world, one of the best ways to increase your reputation was to be a benefactor of another person or community. To use your resources to give charis to someone else in the hopes that they’d celebrate your generosity and maybe make a plaque for you or something.
Charis was how you increased your status in an honor-based society.
So Jesus is kind of being a little sarcastic here. “Wow. You did good to someone who does good to you? You loved those who love you? Amazing… I’ve got your plaque right here. You deserve a medal.”
Obviously, that’s not true because everybody does that. It’s the default setting for humanity.
Even the “sinners” - those people you look down your noses at - they love people who love them. So it’s not like that behavior actually sets you apart. You’re not going to get any extra honor for doing what everybody else does.
And more importantly, doing the default - loving your friends and hating your enemies - will do nothing to change this broken world.
Because it’s always been that way. It’s the same posture that has led to war, violence, and injustice since the very beginning of the story.
Hate breeds more hate. Hurt people hurt people. Something radical has to change for that cycle to be broken.
Well, as I said last week, this sermon Jesus is giving here is his vision of a completely new kind of kingdom that can do just that. A kingdom of healing and love that transforms society and changes this broken world into New Creation.
But the only way that kingdom spreads and puts down roots into our world is if Jesus’ followers take his words seriously. If we are genuinely set apart. Different from the default.
If all we ever do is the same as everyone else, if our behavior is no different than “sinners,” nothing is ever going to change.
Which is why I agree with the theologian Dallas Willard when he calls loving your enemies the “litmus test of true Christlikeness.”
You can see a person go to church or read their Bibles or even be a little generous. But it’s when you see them loving their enemies that you know they are a true disciple of Jesus.
TRAINING
So again, this brings us back to the question of “how.” Loving our enemies - practicing redemptive non-retribution when every fiber of our being tells us to lash out…
If this seemingly impossible task is something Jesus actually expects us to put into practice, then how do we do it? How can we be different from the default?
Well, the short answer is, we practice. We train.
Think of it this way. Imagine you are a lifelong couch potato and you are being asked to run a marathon. Well, if you just got up to the starting line with no preparation and tried to run 26.2 miles, it’s not going to go so well.
If you want to run a marathon you have to get active first. And eat well. And drink water. And run. And run some more the next day. And run some more the day after that. You have to train your body until the impossible becomes possible.
Now imagine you are normal, default person being asked to love your enemies because that’s what will heal the world. Because that’s what Christ-followers do.
If all you have is good intentions, then guess what? When you get slapped in the face, you’re not turning the other cheek. You’re throwing hands.
When you are hated and insulted, you’re going to hate and insult right back.
It’s only natural. A couch potato trying to run a marathon is going to pull every muscle in their body. An ordinary person encountering an enemy is going to respond with hate. You have to train if you want to respond in a different way.
Which is why the civil rights protestors working with Dr. King did exactly that.
They didn’t just show up one day and sit calmly while being beaten. They trained.
They gathered in local churches and practiced getting yelled at and shoved. They learned to identify their bodies’ natural responses in high stress situations and how to overcome their urge to fight back.
But not just that. They also practiced shaping their minds and hearts to become loving towards those who hated them.
They memorized what they called
The 10 Commandments of Non-Violence
1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
2. Remember always that the non-violent movement seeks justice and reconciliation - not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men might be free.
6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
8. Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement and of the captain on a demonstration.
These protestors made progress for their cause because they did the hard work before they ever got to the starting line.
To paraphrase Jesus, anyone can get blasted by a water cannon. Why should you get credit for that? What matters is how you respond when you do. Will it be with vengeance or redemptive non-retribution?
Now, in the case of these protestors, they had a specific enemy and they knew when conflicts were likely to erupt. They put themselves in harm’s way.
But what about us? How do we prepare for loving our enemies as a lifestyle? When we never know who might be standing in the way of our joy, flourishing, or wellbeing on a given day?
How do we prepare for responding with mercy when someone cuts us off on the road without any warning?
What does training look like for a lifestyle of enemy love? Well, this is where your training has to broaden out a bit. Bottom line,
To be genuinely set apart as a follower of Christ, you must do the hard work to become like him in all areas of your life.
This means practicing what it feels like to set aside your own agenda and seek God’s desires instead. Strengthening your muscles of trust.
It means spending energy, money, and time caring for the downtrodden and oppressed. Building up your stamina of mercy and generosity.
It means practicing patience and compassion, especially with those who don’t deserve it, so it starts to become second nature.
It means learning to identify your sinful impulses and mastering self-control.
It means spending time with God - in prayer, in Bible study, in worship, listening to sermons, having rich conversations with other believers.
This is what true training looks like. Dedicated, intentional, focused practice that starts to re-shape your mind and heart to look more and more like the mind and heart of Jesus.
I’m describing discipleship here. Re-shaping your reactions and mindset so you respond like Christ when the world throws obstacles your way.
This is how you become someone who stands out from the crowd. Different from the default. This is how you respond with love toward your enemies because it’s the kind of person you are.
As Dallas Willard put it,
“Jesus [invited] people to follow him into that sort of life from which behavior such as loving one’s enemies will seem like the only sensible and happy thing to do. For a person living that life, the hard thing to do would be to hate the enemy, to turn the supplicant away, or to curse the curser… True Christlikeness, true companionship with Christ, comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as he would." -Dallas Willard
You can only run the marathon of loving your enemies when your heart has been properly trained.
Luke 6:32
“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!”
Luke 6:27
“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.”
That is the way we break the cycles of hatred and violence and retribution of our world…
By practicing the way of Jesus when the pressure is off so we can become the kinds of people who think and act and respond like him when the pressure is on.
Loving your enemies is not impossible. But it won’t just happen. Are you willing to train to become the kind of person who can finish the marathon of love?