"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. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
On July 13th, a troubled young man decided he was going to end the life of former president, and current presidential candidate, Donald Trump. At a rally in Pennsylvania, the young man climbed the side of a nearby building, carrying with him an AR-15 rifle. Once in position, he set his scope on the former president and pulled the trigger. By the narrowest of margins, and probably only because former president Trump chose at that second to turn his head in his direction, the shots missed with one of the bullets clipping the upper portion of former President Trump's right ear. While some are attributing the misses to divine intervention, no one can argue that had the nearest bullet been one inch further to the right that this story would have ended on a much more tragic note.
After being hustled away and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, the first correspondence coming from Donald Trump was to thank the Secret Service individuals who risked their lives getting him safely from the podium to the vehicle that carried him to the hospital and also to offer his condolences to the fireman who was killed protecting his family in the shooting and to the other individual (actully there were two) that was seriously injured in the would-be assassination. Rather than taking aim at the gross security failures (of which there were many) that allowed for this shooting to occur, the former president chose to use the opportunity to thank those who risked their lives and to offer sympathy to others who suffered loss. While this response falls short of the truly Christian response, it is closer to it than the more typical human response, which would have contained at least a tinge of anger that this could have happened.
Stephen, as he was being stoned to death, prayed to God to not hold this sin against those who were killing him (Acts 7:60). Corrie Ten Boom, when confronted by a formerly vicious concentration camp guard largely responsible for the death of Corrie's sister and for her own suffering in the camp, was asked for forgiveness by the former guard (he had subsequently become Christian). She struggled, but ultimately found it in her heart to forgive him.
Undoubtedly, if we knew more about the lives and deaths of the disciples and other Christian martyrs throughout history, there would be other stories of forgiveness at moments of suffering and death. This is the truly Christian response, the response that emulates our Lord and Savior. Forgiveness is an act of love, arguably one of the greatest acts of love, particularly when it occurs in the face of great adversity.
Loving our friends and family (normally) is easy to do, but loving our enemies and those that persecute us is not. The typical human reaction to those that wish us evil is anger, hatred, even revenge (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth). Yet, loving our enemies, and exercising the corresponding forgiveness, is exactly what we are called to do as followers of Jesus Christ.
Were God not a God of love, our fates would be sealed. All of us started our lives carrying the filth of original sin and as enemies of God, only to continue our lives committing sin after sin, transgression after transgression. A god lacking in love and forgiveness would rightly sentence every last one of us to the punishment we so deserve. However, this is not the way of our God. Our God is a loving God. Our God is a forgiving God. Because He loves us and wants to forgive us, our God chose to sacrifice His only Son for us.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Second Person of the Holy Trinity, humiliated Himself by taking on human manhood. After living a perfect, sinless human life, He allowed Himself to be unfairly captured by His earthly enemies, to be mocked, beaten, scorned, brutally mishandled, shamed, and ultimately crucified. All of this was done according to a divine plan, a plan whereby Jesus Christ would take on our sin and the Father would take out His justly wrath at our disobedience on His Son. By His death on the cross, Jesus would pay the penalty for our sins and would exchange His perfect righteousness for our filth, thereby opening the Kingdom of Heaven to all who believe and put their trust in Him.
Our God, in addition to being a loving, forgiving God is also a just God. Our sins demand punishment and God will ultimately carry out that punishment. Either we, because of our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, will be covered (forgiven) by His blood on the cross or we will pay for our own sins. For those not trusting in Jesus, the punishment will be severe, eternal suffering and separation from God, eternal damnation. This is a terrible fate that I doubt any of us would wish on our worst enemy yet alone our loved friends and family members. We are, therefore, called to action, to spread the Word of God throughout the world.
While not all of us can be missionaries, we should all strive to lead Christian lives, to reflect the love that God has showered on us to those around us. We should let our light shine; we should let the world know who we are and what we believe.