My Enemy My Brother: Part 1

The other morning I was watching the news with my wife before I headed off to work. As I was sitting in my green recliner couch enjoying a crunchy bowl of Grape Nuts, a news headline appeared on CBS “Teen Beating Caught on Tape.” The title sparked my attention for a couple of reasons; first, I work with teens on several levels whether it is in the church or public school system. Secondly, the video image looked horrific and I wanted to see if it was as bad as I thought it was. To my surprise it was.
Six teenage girls, the youngest being fourteen years old, decided to lure a “friend” over and beat her up for the sake of being famous on the internet. Two boys stood outside the house as lookouts. According to the CBS news cast, when the sixteen year old girl arrived at the home, the other girls attacked her and slammed her head into the wall knocking her unconscious. The six girls then put the unconscious victim on a couch and waited for her to wake up. After she awoke, they all took turns beating her while video taping the entire event.
The young victim suffered a concussion, hearing and sight loss on her left side, and multiple contusions. Not to mention she was humiliated on the internet and on national television. This humiliation has been so devastating that her mother had to pull her out of public school and began home schooling her.
After watching this video I was livid. My demeanor changed almost like Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hide. I went from being fairly laid back and eager to start my day, to becoming almost undone. My chest ached with tension and my mouth was growling slurred pieces of indignation. I could not believe the audacity of these young people.
I was terribly disappointed. I was disappointed in the fact that these girls had such a lack of moral appreciation for the value of ones life. They show no remorse for their actions and actually kidded about the incident at the police station. I was disappointed with the mother of one of the victim’s, who said “the girl should not have been talking trash;” which indicates that because the victim may have said some things about these girls, their actions are vindicated. I was also disappointed in some of the media who are trying to say on one hand that their actions are bad and on the other; “they are just teens being teens.”
With that being said, God forced me to ponder being put in the same situation as the victim or the victims’ parents. How would I respond if I were attacked and humiliated to such a degree as this young lady? My heart revealed that I am not as mature in my faith as I long to be.
As Christians we have a right to be angry at sinful behavior and its affects on people. We have the moral obligation to seek justice for those who have suffered injustice. We should be passionate about rightful retribution. However, we are not commanded to let that passion sprout into a hatred for our offenders. In fact, we are called to treasure Christ in our love for those who hate us. And this love is demonstrated in four ways.

Four Acts of Love for our Enemies That Glorifies God
Matt 5:43-48

Love Your Enemies (v44)
Your enemy is anyone who is antagonistic toward your life and your endeavors. Their motives are centered in your demise and destruction. In the realm of Christ, our enemy seeks to destroy anyone who submits to him as Lord and King. This pursuit is seen in the countless acts of persecution all over the world of believers by governments and radical non-Christian religious sects.
Jesus teaches his people to love those who are antagonistic toward you. This love he commands is not a superficial “I will forgive but not forget” kind of love. The word used in this text describes the kind of love God commands us to have for Him (Matt 22:37) and also the kind of love God has for Jesus (John 10:17). God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for us and grant us eternal salvation through Him (John 3:16). And God loves his Son more than anything on this earth or above the earth and will exult his name above every other name (Phil 2:9-11). We are to love our enemies with a never ending, un-breaking, life changing, radical world defying kind of love.

Bless Those Who Curse You (v44)
To bless someone who curses you is to speak well of them. The connotation here is that of giving a eulogy at a funeral. We are to invoke a benediction toward the one who curses our reputation or slanders our integrity. We are not to return fire with words insulting them, but rather speak well of them and encourage their well being. It is incredibly easy to assault them with anger and hate. It takes an act of grace to not only hold your tongue, but to pray for them with a heart that longs for God to be glorified in their life. It is to be like the apostle Paul whose concern for the Philippian jailer who helped imprison him, and was about to kill himself (because all of his prisoners were able to escape because of a God ordained earthquake) graciously said “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.. Believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved.” (Acts 16:25-40)

At this point I want to leave you with a question. Can you love someone who attacked you and humiliated you like God loves us and His Son? Can you genuinely bless someone and be gracious to one who beat your child to a pulp? As you meditate on this, carefully monitor your feelings toward those 8 teens that maliciously attacked the young girl. What would you want to do them if you had the opportunity?
In my next entry I will explore the final two acts of love and how they are justified. Be good and God bless.