Spoiler Alert! I’m preaching on Romans 12:14, 17-21 tomorrow (4/10), so you might want to just wait to hear the sermon and not read this entry. But if you aren’t located near 3551 W. Diversey Ave. in Chicago, you’re welcome to continue.
We’re so used to thinking that revenge is the appropriate response when we have been wronged. Movies glorify it (Kill Bill, Kill Bill 2, Kill Bill 3–BTW, how many times must Bill die?), we teach it to our children (if he hits you, flatten him!), and we equate it with “getting justice”–an interesting use of the ‘J” word. But Paul–and Jesus in Matthew 6–gives us another option: a counteraction that prevents the situation from deteriorating into more violence and bloodshed and pushes both parties toward peace. “Bless…. feed…. Give a cup of cold water….”
That’s crazy talk–or so we think. It won’t work (we assume) so we don’t try it. It would seem that if we bless, feed and water the one who has wronged us that (s)he has won and gotten everything (s)he wanted in the first place. So, it would seem, BUT….
Paul’s reference to “if your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat, etc” is a direct quote of Proverbs 25:21-22. Paul omits the last line of Prov. 25:22: “And the Lord will reward you.” God blesses those who refuse to return violence for violence. God’s blessing is about experiencing “shalom’–becoming whole and living in fullness. When I carry out revenge, a part of my humanity dies. When I respond with a curse for a curse, my soul atrophies. I will never experience the abundant life in Christ if I insist on taking up the actions that lead to death and destruction.
Bless, feed, water…. Maybe we should try it.
Tongue on Fire 