Love Your Enemies

Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...” (Matthew 5:43-44)

Enemies came in many different forms for Jesus. The unclean spirits in the man who interrupts his teaching. The scribes who question who Jesus is: if he has authority over unclean spirits, perhaps he’s one himself. These are from today’s Gospel (Mk 1:21-28).

Jesus isn't going to waste time returning hatred with hatred. Instead he prays for and heals the man with unclean spirits. And from the cross he prays and seeks forgiveness for those who are crucifying him.

Jesus will, whether they want him to or not, love his enemies and pray for his persecutors.

When I was ten, I was visiting my grandparents in Pugwash. A boy in the village took decided he didn’t like me, so he punched me in the face. Despite the calls of the other boys for me to strike back, I couldn’t. I was much larger than this boy and I figured that I could win, but it hardly felt worth it. His disgrace loomed much larger than the welt on my face. If I’d known to, I would have prayed for him too, but, I didn’t. Today, I know to pray and I do, once and a while I pray for that boy, now a man. I know too that prayer is not enough.

The Sikh man who was treated so poorly in a Canadian Legion hasn’t, according to media reports, demanded the firing of those who accosted him, rather he hopes they learn something. Prayer and revenge don’t mix.

Therefore, I pray for the ignorant, the abuser, the enemy and for Donald Trump. But I am not so naïve as to think that pray alone solves the problem. Prayer, I hope, motivates me and others to make changes, so that the ignorant are taught, the abuser is stopped, the enemy is disarmed and Trump is changed.

And one more thing: I hope that all of us will realize that, at it’s core, a woman’s march is a people’s march. We are in this together.