The Upside Down Life: Part 3

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer.   But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.  Give to everyone who begs from you and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you."

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and 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 brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Matthew 5:38-48

This week I read 'The Story of Ruby Bridges', a six year old girl growing up in New Orleans in 1960.  Ruby was one of the first black children to be sent to a white school and and the very first to be sent to William Frantz Elementary School.  Ruby and her parents had a strong faith in God - they prayed long and hard, asking God for courage and strength.  On Ruby's first day of school a large crowd of angry white people picketed the school, they called Ruby names, some people even wanted to hurt her.  No one came to the aid of Ruby, not the city police or state police.  So the president of the United States ordered Federal Marshals to walk with her to school.  This went on for weeks that turned into months - angry crowds continued to shout angry words and threats at her.  And yet, six year old Ruby would walk through the crowd and not say a word.  No one went to school with Ruby - the white people in the neighbourhood would not send their children to school.  So Ruby was the only child in the whole school.  Her teacher would marvel at her attitude, her eagerness for learning and her resilience. One morning she noticed Ruby on her walk towards the school, Ruby seemed to turn toward the angry crowd to talk to them.  When Ruby came into the school Mrs. Henry asked her what she was saying to the crowd.  Feeling exasperated Ruby told Mrs. Henry that she was not talking to the crowd but praying for them.  You see every morning on her way to school she prayed for the people who hated her so much.  And this particular morning she had forgotten to pray so she stopped right there in the middle of the crowd and she prayed the prayer that she prayed everyday on her way to and from school:

Please, God, try to forgive those people.
Because even if they say those bad things,
They don't know what they are doing.
So you could forgive them,
just like you did those folks a long time ago
When they said terrible things about you.

A child lead the way, stood in the face of all of that anger and hate and deep division. And in the strength of the Lord she made a way for all children to attend school together in New Orleans.  Her story echoes down the years and still teaches us what it means to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us.  Perhaps it is only through stories like Ruby's, only through the life of Christ that we can understand these words from the gospel of Matthew.  Love your enemy? Do good to those who hate you?  Surely these words are not to be taken literally?  And yet when they are lived out they give witness to a deep love, to a way of living that defies our human understanding and shows us another way of being in the world, a way that offers us true freedom.  Jesus goes to the cross and looking down upon the angry mob that has crucified him, he says, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."  The Word interprets the word.

I think it is helpful to put wheels on these words as it is far too easy for these teachings to become obtuse.  These teachings are for our everyday lives just like Jesus' words on anger from last week.  Even if a child doesn't have an enemy at school, we can likely all think of someone who we have vilified, ganged up on, or spoken harshly about with others.  So, how do we love our enemies?

I am reminded of Father Trevor's words from last weeks story, 'Desmond and the Very Mean Word':
"When people say mean words to us, we often feel ashamed of who we are... they can make us feel less lovable, but it's not true...
Desmond, everything we do matters - if we smile or if we frown, if we say something nice or if we say something mean... When we hurt someone, it hurts us too."
Our hearts are fragile and easily hurt.  This is why we were given a way to heal them - it's called forgiveness....
You don't need to wait until someone says they're sorry. You have the power to forgive them when you are ready...
Let me tell you a secret, Desmond.  When you forgive someone, you free yourself from what they have said or done.  It's like magic."

The answer to the hurt we experience is not to hurt back.  The answer is love; the answer is forgiveness.  It was Jesus answer to us on the cross.  Love.  Forgiveness.  Freedom.

When we begin to pray for those who hurt us, God begins to change our hearts towards people.  We begin to see others as God sees them. We can forgive, even if they never say 'sorry'.  That angry crowd that Ruby Bridges walked in front of they did not shame Ruby, she was confident in who she was as a beloved child of God; she knew that God was on her side and she felt compassion for all those angry people who 'didn't know what they were doing.'  She understood something of "the very heart of God who comes amongst us, who loves the unlovable, suffers our worst and rises to forgive us."  Ruby Bridges had the capacity for this kind of love is due to the empowering love given by God, who is love. We are able to be gracious, hospitable, generous, forgiving because we know these gifts of God in our own lives. We know his forgiveness and we can forgive others, we know his generosity towards us and we can be generous, we know the welcome he offers - to the older son and to the prodigal - and we can be hospitable too. (Barbara Essex, Feasting on the Word)

We cannot love our enemies in our own strength, we are empowered through the love of God and the help of the Spirit. We also need and a friend or someone we trust in our community of faith to help us walk this road.  Ruby Bridges was able to go to school all alone (with an armed marshal), through an angry crowd for months because God was with her - she prayed everyday on the way to and from school. Because her parents and a whole community were praying for her.  Desmond Tutu learned to forgive and love his enemy as he came to understand Jesus through the words and witness of Father Trevor Huddleston.  You see this is a way of living for us as disciples and for the church.

Perhaps this Sunday you can share a story with your class about someone who has learned what it means to 'love your enemy'. Talk about what this looks like in our daily lives - allow for some response to these words of Jesus.  Maybe it will be reflecting on what forgiveness means for us, a time when we have been forgiven or forgiven someone for the hurt they caused us and felt free.  Maybe we need to be reminded just how much God loves us, maybe we need to see ourselves through his eyes. Perhaps you want to allow students to respond creatively through a drawing, a poem, or some word art.

If you would like to read 'The Story of Ruby Bridges' or 'Desmond and the Very Mean Word' to your class, please let me know, I can make a copy available to you.