Grace Meditation #10
Hating Evil with Grace/ “Gospel-Centered” “Loving our Enemies”
Psalm 37:20
20 But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;
they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
John 11:35
35 Jesus wept.
John 11:38-39
38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone!”
I John 3:7-8
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Romans 12:9b
Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Revelation 21:5
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also, he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
In recent weeks our world has witnessed unspeakable acts of evil. Any reasonable human being finds themselves asking, “Why?” And “How?” “How can image bearers of God Almighty be capable of such despicable, gruesome, atrocities against their fellow image bearers?!” In our confusion and grief, it is very easy for us to fall into anger which often leads to hate and bitterness and a desire for revenge.
How are we, as Reformed and Evangelical followers of Jesus, who believe that all of us are born into sin-that we are totally depraved sinners-and that salvation is by grace through faith alone-to respond to what we have witnessed? How do we “hate what is evil and cling to what is good?” How do “we hate what is evil,” and yet “love our enemies?” How do we deal with our tendency, especially as Christian Americans, to want to divide people up into “black hats” and “white hats?”
First, as Christians, nowhere are we called to hate people. We are to consider every human being as an image bearer of God. But as Reformed believers, we also remember that all mankind is born under control of the evil one. Satan’s main goal is to destroy God’s image bearers and the image of God in them, and to keep as many of them from being redeemed and restored as he possibly can. He delights in marring the image of God. He delights in pulling the puppet strings of those he controls so that they accomplish his evil designs and inflict as much pain and suffering as he can through them, even though he knows he has already been defeated, and nothing can snatch the elect out of the hands of their loving Father. John tells us that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
But when faced with the level of evil violence that we have recently witnessed, often our kneejerk reaction is to condemn entire people groups-to make enemies of entire ethnicities or nations. Even as believers the old nature still stinks, and so we tend to want to make enemies out of people. And we quickly forget that we are told to “love our enemies.” We quickly forget that we are to do good to those who wish us harm and pray for those who persecute us.
We have seen much evidence of this on both sides of the discussion/conflict here in America and in Europe over the past few weeks. We see political conservatives and conservative Christians immediately siding completely and unconditionally with Israel-after all, October 7th was horrendous, and Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorist atrocities. But not only do they side with Israel, they quickly make the short leap to condemning and hating ALL Palestinians and Arabs. Such folks don’t know that the Palestinians are some of the most generous, and welcoming, and even tolerant, people in the whole Arab world. Many conservative Christians do not even realize or know that 15-20 percent of Palestinians world-wide consider themselves Christian-Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Evangelical-many are brothers and sisters in Christ. And Palestinians, Christians, and Muslims, have suffered tremendously during the last 75 years of occupation. But if you say anything positive about Palestinians, or even express a desire for a peaceful resolution to the violence and bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians-a peaceful resolution to occupation-you are immediately branded as being anti-Israel or worse antisemitic. (Almost no one understands that Arabs are also a “Semitic people.” Arabs are also sons of Abraham!) Palestinian Christians of Jewish and Gentile backgrounds have lived in the land designated “Palestine” by the Romans since shortly after the time of Jesus. Saying Arabic speaking Palestinians have no right to live in the region of Palestine, is ludicrous. It would be like saying Native Americans have no right to live in America.
Then on the left we see people marching in the streets, condemning Israel for defending themselves against criminal, terrorist violence. We hear chants and see signs with extremely anti-Jewish sentiment-some even calling for “Death to the Jews,” and “Death to America” In some more liberal, Christian-supposedly “more enlightened” circles-it is very in vogue to condemn Israel and blindly support “the Palestinian Cause,” even though there are Palestinian groups who have been infected with radical-Islam and would just as soon kill all such liberals as Israelis. If you express love for or support of Israel, you are condemned as being an “Oppressor,” or a “Colonialist,” or “anti-the Resistance,” or even a “White Supremacist,” or pro-genocide. (With all these labels you see the not-so-subtle effect CRT has had on western thinking.) How are Jewish people branded as Colonialists or even “Whites?” Not yet 80 years ago 6 million of them were slaughtered in Europe- simply for being an ethnic minority from the Middle East! That was a true genocide. In addition, in the last century thousands of Jews were slaughtered in Turkey, Syria and Armenia along with Armenians and other Christian groups. But Jews are successful and in power now, so “they must be bad.” The Jewish historical ties to the land are indisputable. And Jewish presence in the land is not just ancient history. There were Jews living in the land before the Zionist movement ever began, and before the return of so many between the world wars. (Former Israeli PM Golda Meijer used to call herself Palestinian!)
Not to mention that we have brothers and sisters in Christ among the Jewish people all over the state of Israel-Arab and Jewish Christian Israelis. One of the first IDF casualties among those rushing to rescue the settlers around Gaza was a delightful young Messianic believer; a-23-year-old redheaded, freckled girl, turned Army Officer. The Jewish people have also suffered during the occupation of the last 75 years, surrounded by enemies and endless terrorist attacks whose charter statements call for the wiping out of the Jews and a pushing of the state of Israel into the sea.
Saying the Jewish people or even the State of Israel have no right to exist in the land of Palestine is ludicrous. It would be like saying Native Americans have no right to live in America! So, you see absolute ignorance on both sides of the equation! Just enough knowledge to become activists and march through the streets with flags and signs and threaten folks who disagree with you. ☹
What is a grace based, gospel-centered response to the evil we see in our world?
No one hated evil more than Jesus! No one preached peace and true justice more than Jesus! That is why, as the eternal Son of God, He willingly came into this world that God so loved and was born as a Jew in Bethlehem! (Bethlehem is now a Palestinian town in case you are unaware-but even then, it was in the region named Palestine by the Romans-they were also pretty ignorant.) What was Jesus’ response to human suffering and death? He cried over His friend Lazarus and then got ferociously angry (“deeply disturbed” is a weak translation.) as He did battle with death and raised Lazarus from the dead. He wept over the future destruction of Jerusalem. He healed real sinners in their suffering including the Roman Centurion’s son (enemies of the Jews) and the Syrophoenician, Gentile, woman in Lebanon. He fed the multitudes in the Decapolis-feeding mixed crowds of Gentiles and Jews (There were also Arabs living in the Decapolis at the times.) He taught peace, love, and forgiveness. And you know what? You never see Jesus and His followers marching with signs in the street calling for an end to Roman occupation, or the overthrow of the corrupt Jewish King Herod and the Sanhedrin. In fact, Jesus called for proper respect, obedience, and submission to the governing powers. His idea of justice was definitely NOT marching through the streets with flags and hate-filled signs and acting violently in the name of a “cause.”
Jesus came into the world to make all things new! He came to bring about an end to hostility and enmity, and bring reconciliation between God and man, and man and man. Jesus preached the gospel indiscriminately to the rich and the poor, to the powerful and the slave; one of his followers, Simon the Zealot, was probably a converted terrorist against the Jewish establishment and Rome!)
As followers of Jesus, we “hate what is evil,” but we don’t hate people! We don’t hate even our enemies! We love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us. We participate in justice, individually and corporately, by preaching the gospel, loving our neighbors, breaking down racial barriers, and caring for the strangers and “aliens” in our midst, feeding and clothing the poor and prisoners, As individuals, we become involved in politics and government to have a positive impact in that arena. We do not advocate for violence against anyone. We pray for God’s justice to be done-we can even pray for criminals to be punished for their crimes. Remembering that God’s justice was poured out on Jesus for the sake of His children. Remembering that “Except for the grace of God there go I” in any circumstance, including the worst of sinners! So, we also pray for mercy. And most of all we pray “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” Make all things new!!
As someone who grew up in Palestine and Israel, and who speaks Arabic fluently and modern Hebrew, I tell folks that I am 100% pro-Israeli 100% pro-Palestinian. I want to see both peoples prosper and flourish and have the dignity of freedom and self-determination. That message does not win me many friends on either side of the conflict over there or here in America!
Most of us are aware of Jewish communities in our midst, for whom we have much sympathy and affinity. Most of us are still incredulous and horrified that a genocide on the level of the Holocaust could have happened in our lifetime or the lifetime of our parents. We still mourn with them. We pray with them, “Never again!” We grieve over the atrocities committed on October 7th. We pray for their protection and the protection of their family in Israel and an end to the hatred, violence, and bloodshed.
Most are unaware that we also have Arabic speaking communities- Christian and Muslim-in our midst as well. There are close to 30K Arabic speakers in Nashville, the home of Country and Christian music, many of them Christian Egyptians some with family in Gaza. They have more than 9 Orthodox and/or Catholic churches and several Evangelical. Just one example.
A couple of weeks ago I went into a shop here outside of Tallahassee. I knew that the lady who worked in the shop was a Muslim lady from Gaza, here in the US with her three boys-her husband left behind in Gaza. At first, she didn’t recognize me even though I had spoken to her in Arabic before and told her where I had grown up in the West Bank. Maybe it was because I had sunglasses on this time. But I also noticed it looked like she had been crying-her eyes red and swollen. As I spoke to her in Arabic, she recognized me as “the blond-Palestinian,” and I asked if she had any news from Gaza. She pulled out her phone and showed me the before and after pictures of her home and neighborhood in Gaza City, not far from the Baptist Hospital where she had once worked and where I have been many times as a child with my father, who repaired their X-Ray machines. Her house and neighborhood were gone. She pointed out her levelled home to me-reduced to rubble by Israel’s attempt to root out terrorism. Her husband got out of the house minutes before the bombs landed. She was obviously in shock and deep grief. I cried with her. But, I also told her that we would be praying for her and her boys, and her husband back in Gaza. That the Lord would protect them from further harm and bring an end to the violence and bloodshed all over the Middle East. I told her that I believed only Jesus was the Prince of Peace and only He could bring an end to the mess. She was very appreciative of my promise as a Christian Pastor, that we would be praying for them and the whole situation. And she bid me the usual Palestinian Arabic farewell-“Maa esalameh.” “Go in peace.”
May this be the way Jews and Arabs bless one another and the way we bless them. Praying that the Prince of Peace will soon reign in their hearts and minds! Again, Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”