LOVE OF ENEMIES
The preceding chapter makes it very clear why Jesus opened the more
profound depths of the spiritual life to his much-divided and almost
hopelessly clannish countrymen, by commanding them to love their
enemies. He who taught "as one having authority, and not as the
scribes," knew the possibilities and powers of divine love as no man
did. It is in such immortal precepts that we perceive his superiority
to his time and people and the divinity of his character. His
knowledge of the Father was so intimate and his repose in the Father's
love so perfect that he could justly say, "I and my father are one."
"Ye have heard," he said to his followers, "that it hath been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor [in the original, _quarib_--kinsman] and
hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do {97} good to them that hate you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the
children of your father which is in heaven."[1]
Here we have the very heart and soul of the Gospel, and the dynamic
power of Jesus' ministry of reconciliation. Yet to many devout
Christians, as well as to unfriendly critics of the New Testament, the
command, "Love your enemies," offers a serious perplexity. An
"independent" preacher in a large Western city, after reading this
portion of the Sermon on the Mount to his congregation, stated that
Jesus' great discourse should be called, "The Sarcasm on the Mount."
Is not love of enemies beyond the power of human nature?
This question is pertinent. And it is an obvious fact that we cannot
love by command; we cannot love to order. This mysterious flow of soul
which we call love is not of our own making; therefore we cannot _will_
to love. Such a discussion, however, falls outside the scope {98} of
this publication. What I wish to offer here is a linguistic
explanation which I believe will throw some light on this great
commandment.
The word "love" has been more highly specialized in the West than in
the East. In its proper English use it means only that ardent, amorous
feeling which cannot be created by will and design. In the West the
word "love" has been relieved of the function of expressing the less
ardent desires such as the terms "to like," "to have good-will toward,"
and "to be well-disposed toward" imply.
Not so in the East. The word "like," meaning "to be favorably inclined
toward," is not found either in the Bible or in the Arabic tongue. In
the English version it is used in two places, but the translation is
incorrect. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Deuteronomy the seventh
verse, "If the man like not to take his brother's wife," should be
rendered, "If the man _consent_ not"; and in the fourth chapter of
Amos, the fifth verse, "For this liketh you, O ye children of Israel,"
is in the original, "For this ye {99} _loved_, O ye children of
Israel." In any standard concordance of the Bible, the Hebrew verb
_Aheb_ (to love) precedes these quotations.
So to us Orientals the only word which can express any cordial
inclination of approval is "love." One loves his wife and children,
and loves grapes and figs and meat, if he likes these things. An
employer says to an employee, "If you _love_ to work for me according
to this agreement, you can." It is nothing uncommon for one to say to
a casual acquaintance whom he likes, "I must say, _Sahib_ [friend],
that I love you!" I know of no equivalent in the Arabic for the
phrase, "I am interested in you." "Love" and "hate" are the usual
terms by which to express approval and disapproval, as well as real
love and hatred.
The Scriptural passages illustrative of this thought are not a few. In
the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the thirteenth verse,
it is said, "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated." God does not "hate." The two terms here, "loved" and {100}
"hated," mean "approved" and "disapproved." It is as a father approves
of the conduct of one of his children and disapproves that of another
of them. Another example of this use of the word "hate" is found in
the twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, the fifteenth verse: "If a man
have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him
children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be
hers that was hated: then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to
inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved
firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first-born:
but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by
giving him a double portion of all that he hath." Here it is safe to
infer that the writer meant to distinguish between the wife who was a
"favorite" and the one who was not. There could be no valid reason why
a husband should live with a wife whom he really hated when he could
very easily divorce her, according to the Jewish {101} law, and marry
another. In such a case the husband was simply partial in his love.
The hatred which is felt toward an enemy and a destroyer does not apply
here.
Another Scriptural passage which illustrates the free use of the word
"love" is the story of the rich man in the tenth chapter of St. Mark's
Gospel. Beginning with the seventeenth verse, the passage reads: "And
when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and
kneeling to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may
inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me
good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the
commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not
bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother. And he
answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my
youth. _Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him_, and said unto him, One
thing thou lackest"; and so forth. Apparently the brief conversation
with the young man {102} showed Jesus that his questioner was both
polite and intelligent, so the Master liked him. Stating the case in
Western phraseology it may be said that the young Hebrew seeker was an
agreeable, or likable man.
Quite different is the import of the word "love" in such of the
Master's sayings as are found in the fifteenth chapter of St. John's
Gospel: "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye
in my love. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I
have loved you." Here the term "love" is used in its truest and purest
sense.
From all this it may be seen that when the Great Oriental Teacher said
to his countrymen, who considered all other clans than their own as
their enemies, "Love your enemies," he did not mean that they should be
enamored of them, but that they should have good will toward them. We
cannot love by will and design, but we certainly can will to be well
disposed even toward those who, we believe, have ill will toward us.
He who really thinks this {103} an impossibility gives evidence not of
superior "critical knowledge," but of being still in the lower stages
of human evolution.
But I have something more to say on this great subject. Whether used
in a general or a highly specialized sense the word "Love" speaks
indeed of the "greatest thing in the world."
When the Master of the Art of Living said, "Love your enemies," he
urged upon the minds of men the divinest law of human progress. Yet
compliance with this demand seems, to the majority of men, to be beyond
the reach of humanity. When you are admonished to love your enemies,
you will be likely to think of the meanest, most disagreeable human
being you know and wonder as to how you are going to love _such_ a
person. But the Master's law far transcends this narrow conception of
love. Its deeper meaning, when understood, renders such a conception
shallow and childish. It is to be found, not in the freakish moods of
the sensibility, but in the realm of permanent ideals.
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There are in the world two forces at work, love and hatred. Hatred
destroys, love builds; hatred injures, love heals; hatred embitters
life, love sweetens it; hatred is godlessness, love is godliness. The
supreme question, therefore, is, not as to whether there are unlovable
persons in the world or not, but rather, which one of these two forces
would you have to rule your own life and the life of humanity at large,
love or hatred? Which nutrition would you give your own soul and the
souls of those who are near and dear to you, that of hatred, or that of
love? Can it be your aim in life to aid that power which injures,
destroys, embitters life and estranges from God, or the power which
heals, builds up, sweetens life and makes one with God?
You say you have been injured through the malicious designs of others,
you are pained by the injury, and a sense of hatred impels you to
avenge yourself. But what formed such designs against you, love or
hatred? Hatred! You enjoy, idealize, adore the love of those who
{105} love you. The designs of love give you joyous satisfaction, and
not pain. You know now by actual personal experience that the fruits
of hatred are bitter, and the fruits of love are sweet. Is it your
duty, therefore, to give your life over to the power of hatred, and
thus increase its dominion among men and multiply its bitter, poisonous
fruit in the world, or to consecrate your life to the power of love,
which you idealize and adore, and whose fruits are joy and peace?
This, therefore, is the Master's law of love: Give your life and
service to that power which merits your holiest regard and engages your
purest affections, regardless of the "evil and the undeserving."
Recognize no enemies, and you shall have none. The only power which
can defeat the designs of hatred is love. The foams of hatred and
fumes of vengeance are destined to pass away with all their possessors;
only love is permanent and sovereign good.
The man of hatred is destined, sooner or {106} later, to lose his
nobler qualities, his own self-respect and the respect of others, and
to occupy the smallest and most undesirable social sphere. Therefore
love, and do not hate! Exercise good will toward those even who have
injured you.
You may not be able to reach and redeem by your generous thoughts and
designs such persons as have injured you, but a hundred others may
learn from you the law of redeeming love. Let your children grow to
know you as a man of love. Let your employees and fellow citizens
think of you as a man of peace and good will, a builder and not a
destroyer. Let your fireside be ever cheered by the music of love.
When the shadows of night fall and you come to enter into the unknown
land of sleep, let loving thoughts be your companions; let them course
into the deepest recesses of your nature and leaven your entire being.
Be a man of love! Love even your blind and misguided enemies!
[1] Matt. v: 43-45.
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