Love Your Enemies

 

   One of the things I do nearly every weekday morning is watch the Morning Prayer service at Washington National Cathedral (an Episcopal Cathedral in Washington D.C.). I'm sure there are some out there who will probably wonder why a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is watching something like this. After all it isn't my church. I watch it because it adds to my daily Scripture study and because I believe that there is much we can learn from those of other faiths.

   This morning's service was lead by The Very Reverend Randolph Marshall Hollerith, who is the Dean of the Cathedral. I like when he leads the service as he is very down to earth, much more than his title would seem. At the beginning of the service he leads he always introduces himself as Randy Hollerith, Dean of the Cathedral, but I digress. 

   This morning's Scripture was from the the past part of the fifth chapter of Matthew. This is the part where Jesus teaches that we should be kind to everyone, not just those who are our friends or are like us. This is where those of us who are Christian are commanded to "love your enemies".

   This is a commandment that trips just about everyone up. It sounds crazy. How can you possible love someone who is trying to hurt you? How can you love someone who is hurting you, knows and and doesn't care? How can you love someone who isn't hurting you now, but would if they had the chance?

   There really isn't any way around this one. I've looked at five different versions of the Bible from King James to the Good News Bible and they all say the same thing. Love your enemies.

   Clearly this is not something I'm able to do, not without help from the Lord. This is what we are taught. Pray and seek help from the Lord to learn to love your enemies. I still find myself a bit tripped up though. There are some people that I know that I stay away from because quite frankly, I don't feel safe around them. If I'm supposed to love them doesn't that mean I have to have a relationship with them, regardless of potential harm. This is what I thought.

   The weekday prayer service also includes a spiritual thought from the clergy leading the service. Dean Hollerith said something that caught my ear. He said that loving your enemies does not mean having the kind of relationship that you would have with your friends and family. It means seeing them as more than the harm they have done. It means seeing that there is more to them than the wrongs they have committed. To me, that means seeing them as a person.

   I backed up the video to make sure I heard what I thought I heard. I let it roll around in my mind for a bit. This is something I can do. This is possible for me. 

   Think about the people you know that you don't like. I'm guessing that part of the reason why you don't like them is because of something they've done or a way that they've behaved. It is for me anyway. 

   Someone is more than what they've done. They are human, just like us. Harming someone and showing no remorse afterwards does not change this fact. 

   I've written several times in this column about seeing people with whom we disagree as human and how the labels we put on people strip them of humanity. I'm a little embarrassed that I haven't practiced what I preach in this instance. 

   I'm am going to do my best to change that. From now on, I'm going to try to see the humanity in everyone, regardless of how I feel about things they may have done. Is this going to change to world? No, but it could change my part of it and that's enough for me.