(The following is the conclusion of a series originally published at Working Class Christianity, a now defunct substack blog I ran with some comrades. I have chosen to share the concluding article here. Since I began writing this article I converted from Christianity to Islam, a movement that is reflected in the text, even though I still make self-referential use of “Christian”. The term Godde is used here to denote a gender-inclusive understanding of the divine.)
“Morever if the wicked one repents of all the sins that they have committed, and keeps all my laws and does what is just and right, they shall live; they shall not die. None of the transgressions that they committed shall be remembered against them, because if the righteousness they have practiced they will live. Is it my desire that a wicked person shall die? – says Adonai . It is rather that they will turn back from their ways, and live.
For it is not my desire that anyone should die. This is what Adonai declares. Repent therefore, and live!” ~Ezekiel 18:21-23, 32. JPS
In Parts I and II of this series, I’ve reflected on the meaning of Jesus’ exhortation to love as he did and what commitments this requires in the context of our communities. Now I want to explore what is probably the hardest of the Scriptural ideas about love to understand: the command to love your enemies.
After all, even just the concept of having enemies seems at odds with many interpretations of Christian Love. Yet it is right there in the words of Jesus, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Parent in Heaven; for they make their sun rise on the evil and and on the good, and send rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your comrades, what more are you doing than others? Be all-embracing, then as your heavenly Parent is all-embracing” (Mt. 5:44-48). What might this mean?
Previously, I contextualised Jesus’ statement to love those who harass and persecute you in terms of the community of working class comrades and poor who had gathered around Jesus, but now we’re going to examine what it might mean in the context of those who seek our destruction.
After all, if it is hard to love those we’re in community with, how much harder those who hate us?
This requires a clarification since, barring conflicts stoked by Euro-American Colonialism and Imperialism, Christians are not persecuted on the basis of being Christian. (This in spite of what many US Evangelicals claim.)
Even in the earliest years of Christianity, when it could be more accurately described as a Jewish Messianist movement, persecution did not occur necessarily as a result of any religious belief or claim, but from the political claims that followed. The claims that Caesar was not Lord of Lords, but Godde was, and the Messiah was Godde’s regent meant to rule over a counter-Empire of Justice and Peace.
Even as Christianity formed its own identity outside of Jewish categories, for the first few hundred years or so, Christians were seen as a political threat to the Roman Empire. The same cannot be said of US Christians claiming they are persecuted, whose position is much more like Christianity from the 4th century on when it was recuperated by the Roman elite and declared a state religion. Western Evangelical Christians are the most likely to give ideological, theological support and justification to the existence and oppressive actions of Capitalist Imperialism.
The us I refer to are the labouring classes and the oppressed, and those who hate us, are the 1% who hoard their wealth and commit crimes against God and Humanity in order to do so.
With that established, we can answer the question “What does it mean to love my enemy?”
The Prophet Ezekiel, upon whom be peace, as quoted above asserts that Godde doesn’t seek the destruction of the wicked, but that if they are destroyed it will be their own doing, because they were given an out. They could turn from their ways and live.
This is echoed in the words of Prophet Muhammed, upon whom be peace, who said: “Whoever dies having an atom’s weight of arrogance in their heart will never smell the scent of Paradise, unless they repent beforehand” (Mizan al-Hikma 5384).
I’ve chosen these quotes to represent what Godde desires for the wicked and arrogant, yet they say nothing about what the stance of the oppressed should be to the oppressor. What does Godde desire our response to be?
Mary and Jesus, peace be upon them, give us insight into discerning this when they say “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones” (Lk. 1:52a) and “you who are rich have received your consolation” (Lk. 6:24). These exhortations are paired with ones about God having “lifted up the lowly” (Lk. 1:52b) and the “the oppressed and meek inheriting the earth” (Mt. 5:5), one could draw the assumption that if Godde’s love is manifest in ensuring the low are raised up then that same love must be in evidence when the mighty are torn down.
And if it is true that Godde acts through us, then might revolutionary actions taken on behalf of the oppressed have salvific power for the oppressor?
Paulo Freire, an influential Brazilian revolutionary educator and Christian, spoke of how he believed the oppressed’s love for one another necessarily spilled over into a love for the oppressor. He argued that even violent actions taken by the oppressed in response to the oppressor were justified, and even necessary, because they are the only means by which the oppressed will be able to remove the oppressor from their place of power. A place, he says, from which they dehumanize themselves by dehumanizing everyone else. Therefore “the act of rebellion by the oppressed can initiate love”, and if Godde calls us to love all, then following Freire, rebellion against oppressors is not only an act of love, but a necessary act of obedience to Godde (Pedagogy of the Oppressed 56).
Freire goes on to discuss what happens once the oppressed have removed the oppressor from power and begin to run society themselves. Often people make the mistaken assumption that if the oppressed seize power they will become new oppressors. Yet, according to Freire “the restraints imposed by the former oppressed on their oppressors, so that the latter cannot reassume their former position, do not constitute oppression. An act is oppressive only when it prevents people from being more fully human. Acts which prevent the restoration of the oppressive regime … cannot be compared with those by which a few people deny the majority their right to be human” (Pedagogy of the Oppressed 57).
In the words of the Biblical and Islamic Prophets, the healing of the world is often necessarily preceded and effected by (a) human agent(s) ruling on behalf of Godde, typically referred to as Messiah or Christ, the Anointed One. This rule is described in Scripture as both joyful and terrible, a time when the Rod of the Oppressors is broken (Isa. 9:4) when with “rod of his mouth and … breath of his lips” the wicked will be killed (Isa. 11:4b) and justice will flow like water (Amos 5:24.) Before the “New Jerusalem” or “Garden” can be heralded by the Prophets, they have to proclaim Godde’s judgement on the oppressors (Isa. 65, Qur’an 89:15-30, Rev. 19:17-21, al-Bukhari 2476).
Yet, returning to what Ezekiel and Muhammad said, we know that if the wicked and arrogant turn from their evil, they will be forgiven and they will live. The Rod of the Messiah may pass them over, or it may be the instrument through which they see their wickedness for what it was (Ps. 2:9, Rev. 19:13-21). For too often people can’t see the evil they do until they are no longer in the position to do it. Once they are no longer dehumanising others, their humanity may finally be free to bloom. By tearing them from their thrones the oppressed have shown love for the oppressor, even if they didn’t know it.
One complication we might experience while pursuing this path is that often when the power and privilege of the oppressors is challenged, not even dismantled yet, just challenged, they often react as if they are being oppressed. And no amount of quoting Freire is going to shift their feelings about it. The good we do, the love we express for ourselves and for the oppressor, is received as a menace: “If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink; for you will heap live coals on their heads, and Adonai will reward you” (Prov. 25:21-22).*
So, my friends and comrades let us not be consumed by hatred towards our enemies (let’s not dismiss it entirely either, but it is rather hard to do things we know will benefit those we hate.) We don’t have to like them, but we do have to love them, even if and when that means tearing down their thrones and exercising the rod of, what we might refer to today, as the dictatorship of the proletariat.
*See also Paul’s discourse on love in Romans 12:19-21, 13:8-10