7 Epiphany, Year C
Readings: Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42; 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50; Luke 6:27-38
Do you have any enemies? Sometimes I have trouble answering that question. In a war it seems fairly simple to say that those on the other side are the enemy. But what about when the war is between people who have previously not been enemies, like the North and South in the Civil War? Or the Hutus and Tutsis who were neighbors, friends and interrelated by marriage before the genocide erupted? Or even Ukrainians and Russians who have shared many ties over the years?
The definition of enemy is a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something. That’s much broader than nations at war. It might include friends who have fallen out over a disagreement. Or those who take a different political position. Sometimes it includes members of one’s own family who have developed intense hostility towards one another.
That’s what happened in Joseph’s case. He was the 11th son of the patriarch Jacob and apparently favored by his father. He was also an arrogant teenager convinced by his dreams that he had a golden future where he would rule over all his siblings. It’s fair to say that his older brothers reacted with hostility. And when they plotted to trap him in a pit, possibly to kill him, they became his enemies. The eldest brother averted his death and instead they took the opportunity of a passing caravan from Egypt to sell him off into slavery, thereby getting rid of the pest and making a bit of profit off him at the same time.
From that day, his father believed him dead, his brothers never spoke of him and he was left to make his way in a foreign land without family support. He thrived and ultimately rose to one of the highest positions in Egypt where he managed the grain and resources of the Pharoah. Meanwhile his family suffered drought and famine and came looking for assistance in Egypt.
That’s when an already compelling story gets very, very interesting. Joseph holds all the cards. He recognizes his brothers but they cannot see him for who he is. He holds the key to their survival and they have nothing to offer in return. He toys with them, making them accept difficult bargains and increasing their fear and anxiety. He considers revenge, denunciation, imprisonment, even death for them.
Two things change his mind and open up the possibility of reconciliation, forgiveness and hope for his family and nation. The first is his love for his father and his youngest brother. The sight of Benjamin, the other son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel undoes Joseph. That plus his fears for his father and his desire to see him again if he still lives shake him out of his desire for vengeance. He can no longer keep quiet. He reveals his identity, asks if his father is still living and falls into a weeping hug with Benjamin. Love breaks down the wall that had come between them.
The other factor that allows Joseph to release his hatred and turn his enemies into brothers is his faith in God’s grace and provision. He is able to reframe their betrayal as an opportunity for God to save not only his own life, but now, the lives of his family and even of his nation. The famous line, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good” comes from Joseph’s change of heart.
When I think of enemies, I think of those that Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced in Nazi Germany and Martin Luther King Jr. faced during the Civil Rights movement. When they stood up against tyranny and racism they were putting their own lives on the line. Their enemies threatened to kill them and ultimately they both lost their lives for their principled stands.
And yet, they were both faithful followers of Jesus and took seriously his command to “Love your enemy.” They had time to contemplate the fear and danger posed by their enemy. They considered a variety of ways they might oppose the unjust systems they were facing, including the possibility of violent resistance. Both of them wrote about this passage in Luke’s gospel, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
In his sermon titled, “A Knock at Midnight,” King writes,
“Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of starts. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
This is the radical way of the cross. It goes beyond what many cultures understand as the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This way of Jesus bids us to go beyond love for those who love us to love for the stranger, the alien, even the enemy. It is in contrast to J.D. Vance’s definition in a recent interview that it is a Christian concept that we are to “love your family and then you love your neighbor and then you love your community and then you love your fellow citizens and your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” J.D. Vance, January 29, 2025.
It also goes against the understanding that love is something you feel in your heart and emotions for another. In this case, love is the practical acts of caring for those who will not or cannot return your care, refusing retaliation, holding off from revenge and practicing a radical trust and faith in God who has loved, forgiven and cared for each one of us.
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his small community of Christians in Jesus faced the rising tide of Nazism, he wrote in his masterpiece, The Cost of Discipleship:
“This commandment, that we should love our enemies and forgo revenge, will grow even more urgent in the holy struggle which lies before us and in which we partly have already been engaged for years. In it love and hate engage in a mortal combat. It is the urgent duty of every Christian soul to prepare itself for it… And how is the battle to be fought? Soon the time will come when we shall pray, not as isolated individuals, but as a corporate body, a congregation, a Church: we shall pray in multitudes (albeit in relatively small multitudes) and among the thousands and thousands of apostates we shall loudly praise and confess the Lord who was crucified and is risen and shall come again. And what prayer, what confession, what hymn of praise will it be? It will be the prayer of earnest love for these very sons of perdition who stand around and gaze at us with eyes aflame with hatred, and who have perhaps already raised their hands to kill us. It will be the prayer for the peace of these erring, devastated and bewildering souls, a prayer for the same love and peace which we ourselves enjoy, a prayer which will penetrate to the depth of their souls and rend their hearts more grievously than anything they can do to us.” The Cost of Discipleship, 1995, 150-51)
Let me make this personal. I find it difficult enough to love some of my family members let alone hostile neighbors, those who threaten me and leaders who stand against all that I value. Loving enemies seems not only impossible but unwise. After all it’s important to set boundaries, to protect the innocent and to work for justice. This is where the model of Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr and the non-violent civil rights freedom riders and foot soldier help. Their model of resistance that stood up to injustice while loving their enemy is powerful. In fact, it is the only way that I have seen transformation in my own life and in the systems around me.
Love for enemies does not remove responsibility for action, action that will transform injustice, remedy harm and prevent future violence. It involves a reframing our interpretation of the world. This is a world imbued with God’s grace and mercy towards all. It is the home for every soul who is a mixture of both saint and sinner, capable of the most divine expressions of beauty, love and sacrifice as well as the most heinous acts of betrayal, hatred and violence. We who follow the Christ are to be merciful as God is merciful, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to be generous as we have received generously and to love as we have been loved. It will not be easy. We will not always succeed. We will need to rely upon God and upon the Christian community for support along the way. But there will be light in our dark places, love even when we experience hatred and life in the midst of death. Amen.
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