I
am forced to preach under something of a handicap this morning. In
fact, I had the doctor before coming to church. And he said that it
would be best for me to stay in the bed this morning. And I insisted
that I would have to come to preach. So he allowed me to come out
with one stipulation, and that is that I would not come in the pulpit
until time to preach, and that after, that I would immediately go
back home and get in the bed. So I’m going to try to follow his
instructions from that point on.
I
want to use as a subject from which to preach this morning a very
familiar subject, and it is familiar to you because I have preached
from this subject twice before to my knowing in this pulpit. I try to
make it a, something of a custom or tradition to preach from this
passage of Scripture at least once a year, adding new insights that I
develop along the way out of new experiences as I give these
messages. Although the content is, the basic content is the same, new
insights and new experiences naturally make for new illustrations.
So
I want to turn your attention to this subject: "Loving Your
Enemies." It’s so basic to me because it is a part of my basic
philosophical and theological orientation—the whole idea of love,
the whole philosophy of love. In the fifth chapter of the gospel as
recorded by Saint Matthew, we read these very arresting words flowing
from the lips of our Lord and Master: "Ye have heard that it has
been said, ‘Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.’
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use
you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."
Certainly
these are great words, words lifted to cosmic proportions. And over
the centuries, many persons have argued that this is an extremely
difficult command. Many would go so far as to say that it just isn’t
possible to move out into the actual practice of this glorious
command. They would go on to say that this is just additional proof
that Jesus was an impractical idealist who never quite came down to
earth. So the arguments abound. But far from being an impractical
idealist, Jesus has become the practical realist. The words of this
text glitter in our eyes with a new urgency. Far from being the pious
injunction of a utopian dreamer, this command is an absolute
necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, it is love that
will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.
Now
let me hasten to say that Jesus was very serious when he gave this
command; he wasn’t playing. He realized that it’s hard to love
your enemies. He realized that it’s difficult to love those persons
who seek to defeat you, those persons who say evil things about you.
He realized that it was painfully hard, pressingly hard. But he
wasn’t playing. And we cannot dismiss this passage as just another
example of Oriental hyperbole, just a sort of exaggeration to get
over the point. This is a basic philosophy of all that we hear coming
from the lips of our Master. Because Jesus wasn’t playing; because
he was serious. We have the Christian and moral responsibility to
seek to discover the meaning of these words, and to discover how we
can live out this command, and why we should live by this command.
Now
first let us deal with this question, which is the practical
question: How do you go about loving your enemies? I think the first
thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by
analyzing self. And I’m sure that seems strange to you, that I
start out telling you this morning that you love your enemies by
beginning with a look at self. It seems to me that that is the first
and foremost way to come to an adequate discovery to the how of this
situation.
Now,
I’m aware of the fact that some people will not like you, not
because of something you have done to them, but they just won’t
like you. I’m quite aware of that. Some people aren’t going to
like the way you walk; some people aren’t going to like the way you
talk. Some people aren’t going to like you because you can do your
job better than they can do theirs. Some people aren’t going to
like you because other people like you, and because you’re popular,
and because you’re well-liked, they aren’t going to like you.
Some people aren’t going to like you because your hair is a little
shorter than theirs or your hair is a little longer than theirs. Some
people aren’t going to like you because your skin is a little
brighter than theirs; and others aren’t going to like you because
your skin is a little darker than theirs. So that some people aren’t
going to like you. They’re going to dislike you, not because of
something that you’ve done to them, but because of various jealous
reactions and other reactions that are so prevalent in human nature.
But
after looking at these things and admitting these things, we must
face the fact that an individual might dislike us because of
something that we’ve done deep down in the past, some personality
attribute that we possess, something that we’ve done deep down in
the past and we’ve forgotten about it; but it was that something
that aroused the hate response within the individual. That is why I
say, begin with yourself. There might be something within you that
arouses the tragic hate response in the other individual.
This
is true in our international struggle. We look at the struggle, the
ideological struggle between communism on the one hand and democracy
on the other, and we see the struggle between America and Russia. Now
certainly, we can never give our allegiance to the Russian way of
life, to the communistic way of life, because communism is based on
an ethical relativism and a metaphysical materialism that no
Christian can accept. When we look at the methods of communism, a
philosophy where somehow the end justifies the means, we cannot
accept that because we believe as Christians that the end is
pre-existent in the means. But in spite of all of the weaknesses and
evils inherent in communism, we must at the same time see the
weaknesses and evils within democracy.
Democracy
is the greatest form of government to my mind that man has ever
conceived, but the weakness is that we have never touched it. Isn’t
it true that we have often taken necessities from the masses to give
luxuries to the classes? Isn’t it true that we have often in our
democracy trampled over individuals and races with the iron feet of
oppression? Isn’t it true that through our Western powers we have
perpetuated colonialism and imperialism? And all of these things must
be taken under consideration as we look at Russia. We must face the
fact that the rhythmic beat of the deep rumblings of discontent from
Asia and Africa is at bottom a revolt against the imperialism and
colonialism perpetuated by Western civilization all these many years.
The success of communism in the world today is due to the failure of
democracy to live up to the noble ideals and principles inherent in
its system.
And
this is what Jesus means when he said: "How is it that you can
see the mote in your brother’s eye and not see the beam in your own
eye?" Or to put it in Moffatt’s translation: "How is it
that you see the splinter in your brother’s eye and fail to see the
plank in your own eye?" And this is one of the tragedies of
human nature. So we begin to love our enemies and love those persons
that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking
at ourselves.
A
second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy
is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and everytime you
begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize
that there is some good there and look at those good points which
will over-balance the bad points.
I’ve
said to you on many occasions that each of us is something of a
schizophrenic personality. We’re split up and divided against
ourselves. And there is something of a civil war going on within all
of our lives. There is a recalcitrant South of our soul revolting
against the North of our soul. And there is this continual struggle
within the very structure of every individual life. There is
something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Ovid, the
Latin poet, "I see and approve the better things of life, but
the evil things I do." There is something within all of us that
causes us to cry out with Plato that the human personality is like a
charioteer with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in
different directions. There is something within each of us that
causes us to cry out with Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me
to make both a gentleman and a rogue." There is something within
each of us that causes us to cry out with Apostle Paul, "I see
and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do."
So
somehow the "isness" of our present nature is out of
harmony with the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts
us. And this simply means this: That within the best of us, there is
some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we
come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals.
The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation
that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you
most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you
look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what
religion calls "the image of God," you begin to love him in
spite of. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There
is an element of goodness that he can never sluff off. Discover the
element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the
center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a
new attitude.
Another
way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents
itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must
not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person
who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person
who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false
rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an
opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a
recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person
to make some move in life. That’s the time you must not do it. That
is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this
sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an
emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all
men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the
level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat
evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system,
you love, but you seek to defeat the system.
The
Greek language, as I’ve said so often before, is very powerful at
this point. It comes to our aid beautifully in giving us the real
meaning and depth of the whole philosophy of love. And I think it is
quite apropos at this point, for you see the Greek language has three
words for love, interestingly enough. It talks about love as eros.
That’s one word for love. Eros is a sort of, aesthetic love.
Plato talks about it a great deal in his dialogues, a sort of
yearning of the soul for the realm of the gods. And it’s come to us
to be a sort of romantic love, though it’s a beautiful love.
Everybody has experienced eros in all of its beauty when you
find some individual that is attractive to you and that you pour out
all of your like and your love on that individual. That is eros,
you see, and it’s a powerful, beautiful love that is given to us
through all of the beauty of literature; we read about it.
Then
the Greek language talks about philia, and that’s another
type of love that’s also beautiful. It is a sort of intimate
affection between personal friends. And this is the type of love that
you have for those persons that you’re friendly with, your intimate
friends, or people that you call on the telephone and you go by to
have dinner with, and your roommate in college and that type of
thing. It’s a sort of reciprocal love. On this level, you like a
person because that person likes you. You love on this level, because
you are loved. You love on this level, because there’s something
about the person you love that is likeable to you. This too is a
beautiful love. You can communicate with a person; you have certain
things in common; you like to do things together. This is philia.
The
Greek language comes out with another word for love. It is the word
agape. And agape is more than eros; agape
is more than philia; agape is something of the
understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is a
love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it’s
what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of
men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men,
not because they are likeable, but because God loves them. You look
at every man, and you love him because you know God loves him. And he
might be the worst person you’ve ever seen.
And
this is what Jesus means, I think, in this very passage when he says,
"Love your enemy." And it’s significant that he does not
say, "Like your enemy." Like is a sentimental something, an
affectionate something. There are a lot of people that I find it
difficult to like. I don’t like what they do to me. I don’t like
what they say about me and other people. I don’t like their
attitudes. I don’t like some of the things they’re doing. I don’t
like them. But Jesus says love them. And love is greater than like.
Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you
love everybody, because God loves them. You refuse to do anything
that will defeat an individual, because you have agape in your
soul. And here you come to the point that you love the individual who
does the evil deed, while hating the deed that the person does. This
is what Jesus means when he says, "Love your enemy." This
is the way to do it. When the opportunity presents itself when you
can defeat your enemy, you must not do it.
Now
for the few moments left, let us move from the practical how to the
theoretical why. It’s not only necessary to know how to go about
loving your enemies, but also to go down into the question of why we
should love our enemies. I think the first reason that we should love
our enemies, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus’
thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence
of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I
hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on ad
infinitum. [tapping on pulpit] It just never ends. Somewhere
somebody must have a little sense, and that’s the strong person.
The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate,
the chain of evil. And that is the tragedy of hate, that it doesn’t
cut it off. It only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the
universe. Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to
cut it off and inject within the very structure of the universe that
strong and powerful element of love.
I
think I mentioned before that sometime ago my brother and I were
driving one evening to Chattanooga, Tennessee, from Atlanta. He was
driving the car. And for some reason the drivers were very
discourteous that night. They didn’t dim their lights; hardly any
driver that passed by dimmed his lights. And I remember very vividly,
my brother A. D. looked over and in a tone of anger said: "I
know what I’m going to do. The next car that comes along here and
refuses to dim the lights, I’m going to fail to dim mine and pour
them on in all of their power." And I looked at him right quick
and said: "Oh no, don’t do that. There’d be too much light
on this highway, and it will end up in mutual destruction for all.
Somebody got to have some sense on this highway."
Somebody
must have sense enough to dim the lights, and that is the trouble,
isn’t it? That as all of the civilizations of the world move up the
highway of history, so many civilizations, having looked at other
civilizations that refused to dim the lights, and they decided to
refuse to dim theirs. And Toynbee tells that out of the twenty-two
civilizations that have risen up, all but about seven have found
themselves in the junkheap of destruction. It is because
civilizations fail to have sense enough to dim the lights. And if
somebody doesn’t have sense enough to turn on the dim and beautiful
and powerful lights of love in this world, the whole of our
civilization will be plunged into the abyss of destruction. And we
will all end up destroyed because nobody had any sense on the highway
of history. Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see
that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets
toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in
destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough
and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of
evil in the universe. And you do that by love.
There’s
another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because
hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what
hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the
groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and
injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating
somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can’t see
straight when you hate. You can’t walk straight when you hate. You
can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted. There is nothing
more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with
hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case. For
the person who hates, you can stand up and see a person and that
person can be beautiful, and you will call them ugly. For the person
who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful.
For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes
good. For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false
becomes true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. The
symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of
the personality of the hater. And this is why Jesus says hate
[recording interrupted]
.
. . that you want to be integrated with yourself, and the way to be
integrated with yourself is be sure that you meet every situation of
life with an abounding love. Never hate, because it ends up in
tragic, neurotic responses. Psychologists and psychiatrists are
telling us today that the more we hate, the more we develop guilt
feelings and we begin to subconsciously repress or consciously
suppress certain emotions, and they all stack up in our subconscious
selves and make for tragic, neurotic responses. And may this not be
the neuroses of many individuals as they confront life that that is
an element of hate there. And modern psychology is calling on us now
to love. But long before modern psychology came into being, the
world’s greatest psychologist who walked around the hills of
Galilee told us to love. He looked at men and said: "Love your
enemies; don’t hate anybody." It’s not enough for us to hate
your friends because—to to love your friends—because when you
start hating anybody, it destroys the very center of your creative
response to life and the universe; so love everybody. Hate at any
point is a cancer that gnaws away at the very vital center of your
life and your existence. It is like eroding acid that eats away the
best and the objective center of your life. So Jesus says love,
because hate destroys the hater as well as the hated.
Now
there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your
enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive
power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms
individuals. That’s why Jesus says, "Love your enemies."
Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to
transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will
discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption.
You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re
mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this
person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep
being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything
to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it
too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react
with bitterness because they’re mad because you love them like
that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate
you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving
them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the
load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus
says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is
creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is
destructive. So love your enemies.
I
think of one of the best examples of this. We all remember the great
president of this United States, Abraham Lincoln—these United
States rather. You remember when Abraham Lincoln was running for
president of the United States, there was a man who ran all around
the country talking about Lincoln. He said a lot of bad things about
Lincoln, a lot of unkind things. And sometimes he would get to the
point that he would even talk about his looks, saying, "You
don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the president
of the United States." He went on and on and on and went around
with that type of attitude and wrote about it. Finally, one day
Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. And if
you read the great biography of Lincoln, if you read the great works
about him, you will discover that as every president comes to the
point, he came to the point of having to choose a Cabinet. And then
came the time for him to choose a Secretary of War. He looked across
the nation, and decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton.
And when Abraham Lincoln stood around his advisors and mentioned this
fact, they said to him: "Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you
know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about you? Do you know what he
has done, tried to do to you? Do you know that he has tried to defeat
you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln? Did you read all of
those derogatory statements that he made about you?" Abraham
Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said: "Oh yes,
I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after
looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the
job."
Mr.
Stanton did become Secretary of War, and a few months later, Abraham
Lincoln was assassinated. And if you go to Washington, you will
discover that one of the greatest words or statements ever made by,
about Abraham Lincoln was made about this man Stanton. And as Abraham
Lincoln came to the end of his life, Stanton stood up and said: "Now
he belongs to the ages." And he made a beautiful statement
concerning the character and the stature of this man. If Abraham
Lincoln had hated Stanton, if Abraham Lincoln had answered everything
Stanton said, Abraham Lincoln would have not transformed and redeemed
Stanton. Stanton would have gone to his grave hating Lincoln, and
Lincoln would have gone to his grave hating Stanton. But through the
power of love Abraham Lincoln was able to redeem Stanton.
That’s
it. There is a power in love that our world has not discovered yet.
Jesus discovered it centuries ago. Mahatma Gandhi of India discovered
it a few years ago, but most men and most women never discover it.
For they believe in hitting for hitting; they believe in an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth; they believe in hating for hating;
but Jesus comes to us and says, "This isn’t the way."
And
oh this morning, as I think of the fact that our world is in
transition now. Our whole world is facing a revolution. Our nation is
facing a revolution, our nation. One of the things that concerns me
most is that in the midst of the revolution of the world and the
midst of the revolution of this nation, that we will discover the
meaning of Jesus’ words.
History
unfortunately leaves some people oppressed and some people
oppressors. And there are three ways that individuals who are
oppressed can deal with their oppression. One of them is to rise up
against their oppressors with physical violence and corroding hatred.
But oh this isn’t the way. For the danger and the weakness of this
method is its futility. Violence creates many more social problems
than it solves. And I’ve said, in so many instances, that as the
Negro, in particular, and colored peoples all over the world struggle
for freedom, if they succumb to the temptation of using violence in
their struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long
and desolate night of bitterness, and our chief legacy to the future
will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos. Violence isn’t the
way.
Another
way is to acquiesce and to give in, to resign yourself to the
oppression. Some people do that. They discover the difficulties of
the wilderness moving into the promised land, and they would rather
go back to the despots of Egypt because it’s difficult to get in
the promised land. And so they resign themselves to the fate of
oppression; they somehow acquiesce to this thing. But that too isn’t
the way because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral
obligation as is cooperation with good.
But
there is another way. And that is to organize mass non-violent
resistance based on the principle of love. It seems to me that this
is the only way as our eyes look to the future. As we look out across
the years and across the generations, let us develop and move right
here. We must discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive
power of love. And when we discover that we will be able to make of
this old world a new world. We will be able to make men better. Love
is the only way. Jesus discovered that.
Not
only did Jesus discover it, even great military leaders discover
that. One day as Napoleon came toward the end of his career and
looked back across the years—the great Napoleon that at a very
early age had all but conquered the world. He was not stopped until
he became, till he moved out to the battle of Leipzig and then to
Waterloo. But that same Napoleon one day stood back and looked across
the years, and said: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have
built great empires. But upon what did they depend? They depended
upon force. But long ago Jesus started an empire that depended on
love, and even to this day millions will die for him."
Yes,
I can see Jesus walking around the hills and the valleys of
Palestine. And I can see him looking out at the Roman Empire with all
of her fascinating and intricate military machinery. But in the midst
of that, I can hear him saying: "I will not use this method.
Neither will I hate the Roman Empire." [Radio Announcer:]
(WRMA, Montgomery, Alabama. Due to the fact of the delay this
morning, we are going over with the sermon.) [several words
inaudible] . . . and just start marching.
And
I’m proud to stand here in Dexter this morning and say that that
army is still marching. It grew up from a group of eleven or twelve
men to more than seven hundred million today. Because of the power
and influence of the personality of this Christ, he was able to split
history into a.d. and b.c. Because of his power, he was able to shake
the hinges from the gates of the Roman Empire. And all around the
world this morning, we can hear the glad echo of heaven ring:
Jesus
shall reign wherever sun,
Does his successive journeys run;
His
kingdom spreads from shore to shore,
Till moon shall wane and wax
no more.
We
can hear another chorus singing: "All hail the power of Jesus
name!"
We can hear another chorus singing: "Hallelujah,
hallelujah! He’s King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah,
hallelujah!"
We can hear another choir singing:
In
Christ there is no East or West.
In Him no North or South,
But
one great Fellowship of Love
Throughout the whole wide world.
This
is the only way.
And
our civilization must discover that. Individuals must discover that
as they deal with other individuals. There is a little tree planted
on a little hill and on that tree hangs the most influential
character that ever came in this world. But never feel that that tree
is a meaningless drama that took place on the stages of history. Oh
no, it is a telescope through which we look out into the long vista
of eternity, and see the love of God breaking forth into time. It is
an eternal reminder to a power-drunk generation that love is the only
way. It is an eternal reminder to a generation depending on nuclear
and atomic energy, a generation depending on physical violence, that
love is the only creative, redemptive, transforming power in the
universe.
So
this morning, as I look into your eyes, and into the eyes of all of
my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say
to you, "I love you. I would rather die than hate you." And
I’m foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love
somewhere, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed. And
then we will be in God’s kingdom. We will be able to matriculate
into the university of eternal life because we had the power to love
our enemies, to bless those persons that cursed us, to even decide to
be good to those persons who hated us, and we even prayed for those
persons who despitefully used us.
Oh
God, help us in our lives and in all of our attitudes, to work out
this controlling force of love, this controlling power that can solve
every problem that we confront in all areas. Oh, we talk about
politics; we talk about the problems facing our atomic civilization.
Grant that all men will come together and discover that as we solve
the crisis and solve these problems—the international problems, the
problems of atomic energy, the problems of nuclear energy, and yes,
even the race problem—let us join together in a great fellowship of
love and bow down at the feet of Jesus. Give us this strong
determination. In the name and spirit of this Christ, we pray. Amen.
For
audio of this speech visit
http://www.ipoet.com/archive/beyond/King-Jr/Loving-Your-Enemies.html
Be blessed and be a blessing! Peace! Love! Joy! Abundance! Health! Faith! Namaste
