Chris Campbell
Beloved in the body of Christ,
Our reading today from Paul's letter to the Romans (12:9-21) seems very familiar: to love one another. However, the extent to which Paul calls us to love is truly difficult, not only in action but even just in thought, especially given the nature of our psalms for the day (31 & 35).
In our psalms, we plead for God to raise us up and to strike down our enemies. But what Paul asks of us is something different and gives us a different justification.
12:20 If then your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink; for doing this you will heap coals of fire on his head.
This is interesting coming from Paul, once a persecutor of Christians. What is it that a once violent enemy of Christians turned apostle is now trying to teach us? Perhaps the first and final lines of our reading hold an answer.
12:9 Let love be without dissimulation, shrinking from evil, cleaving to good;
12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome the evil with good.
What Paul is asking of us seems a near-impossible feat: To wholly and completely forgive our most terrible enemies; to not foster in our hearts any hate or malice towards even those who persecute and attack us. We are called to only hold love in our hearts, even to those who loathe us.
Nowadays this seems perhaps more difficult. We are bombarded with people who seem so distasteful that we would—as the psalms do—wish the vengeance of God upon them. But this is our own sin and mortal failing coming to the surface. We must be fighting against this within ourselves, as Paul says:
12:18 If possible, as far as is in you, seeking peace with all men;
12:19 not avenging yourselves, beloved, but giving place to wrath—for it has been written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Paul tells us in line 20 that by offering love and mercy to our enemies we are heaping coals of fire onto their heads. But this is not a method by which we are allowed to hurt those who hurt us, this is his calling out to us as a sometime enemy. He is letting us know that, when this mercy was bestowed upon him by God, his pain of guilt was like a cleansing fire.
"Judge not lest ye be judged" (Matthew 7:1) should stand out to us now. For we are challenged by our suffering to lead us to faith, and in faith we must trust in God to lead all people (even our enemies) to salvation.
Paul is challenging each of us now to meditate upon the hate we hold in our heart and to ask for God's help to leave it behind us and to live as members of the body of Christ, with compassion and love for all.
May you live in Truth, Peace, and Love,
Chris Campbell