The Bad News of the Gospel

“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 NIV)

Twenty years ago, 800,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered in a three-month period in the African country of Rwanda as part of a diabolical plot by one tribe to wipe out another.  Five of those victims were the relatives of a woman named Alice, about which columnist Michael Gerson recently wrote.  Her father, mother, brother, sister, and first-born child were murdered before her eyes, and she was nearly killed herself by a man who is now her neighbor.  Gerson quotes Alice as saying, “We have an obligation to forgive, to heal, to move forward.”  And so she has, as have many of her fellow Rwandans.  It is this willingness to forgive that allows her and many others to live next to and amongst those who murdered their family members and sought to kill them as well.  

There are many who try to make following Jesus easy and convenient. Many churches are packed on Sundays with people eager to hear feel-good sermons and pastors eager to comply.  The good news of the Gospel (God’s grace, love, mercy, and acceptance) is the primary, and, sometimes, the exclusive focus of the messages preached.  The bad news, (repentance from sin and applying God’s attributes, not to just ourselves but toward others as well) not so much.  And, for most of us, the worst news is this part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

We may acknowledge this in theory, but it is the hardest thing to do because it goes against our sense of justice.  Love (and by implication forgive) someone who raped you, molested you as a child, murdered your father, betrayed your trust, or holds views you consider repulsive and even evil?  “Never!” our hearts cry.  And many come to our defense for our right to hate and despise the perpetrators because this seems right and justified.  And it is why so little is said on Sunday mornings regarding this teaching—because it is so hard and seems so unfair.  We would rather hear things much easier to accept and that make us feel good. Teaching on loving and forgiving people we despise doesn’t fit that category.

Yet, Jesus was very straightforward in His command.  There is no wiggle room.  And the reason is summed up by this command: “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13)  Before we decided to submit our lives to the authority of Christ, by definition, we were His enemies.  Yet, He was still willing to love and forgive us.  What right then do we have to withhold love and forgiveness from others when we have accepted forgiveness that we have never deserved or earned?

Alice serves as a poignant example of forgiving one’s enemies, and few could argue that their situations were worse than hers.  And there is beauty in the result: former enemies living in peace with one another and, perhaps more importantly, with themselves.  

Today, recognize the bad news of the Gospel: you have no right to hate your enemies because God does not hate you.  Are there people in your life from whom you are withholding forgiveness?  If so, the good news is that love and forgiveness can set you free from the bondage of bitterness and hate.  

© Jim Musser 2014