"Pray for Those Who Persecute You."

Have you ever talked about a terrible situation and said, "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy"? Mom used to say it all the time. As we enter Lent, it can be helpful to reflect on that moment. 

I remember sitting in religion class as a sophomore in high school listening to the priest teaching that class. He was talking about the image most people had of a "Savior" in Jesus' Day. "They didn't understand Jesus' purpose for coming", the priest said, "They thought that he was coming down to beat the butts off the Romans." They thought that the savior God was going to send would be a military savior who would overthrow the Roman government and establish an individual Jewish nation. I remember thinking how silly that was. How could they be so short-sighted? Couldn't they see what was really important? 

Now I understand. They were being oppressed by a corrupt government. They were tired of watching their people suffer. It began to affect every aspect of their lives. They felt helpless in the face of such an unfair situation. For the first time in my life, I want Jesus to be the kind of savior that they wanted him to be. I want him to come down and save us from all the chaos that is going on in this country, and I want him to do it NOW.  

As a member of the Jewish nation under Roman rule, Jesus must have understood those feelings. He advised people to not behave in the same way. “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them.  It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave." (Matthew 20:25)  Yet, Jesus came down for a greater purpose. He tried to teach us that sin was a greater enemy than any external opponent that we could have. That was what he came down to conquer and he did so not through a violent revolution, but through prayer, love and a commitment to God's will regardless of where that may lead him.  

People tend to think of sin as an act of commission, like stealing or committing adultery, but there are also sins of omission. Rich people ignoring the needs of the poor is a form of sin, too. The Bible describes that kind of sin as being very serious. Luke 16 tells the story of a beggar named Lazarus who lies outside a rich man's door. The poor man died and was carried to Abraham's bosom. The rich man then died and went to Hades, where he was in torment. He begged Abraham to allow Lazarus to bring him a drip of water which Lazarus could not do. Abraham reminded him that he had good things in his life on Earth while Lazarus had nothing. The rich man then begged Abraham to at least allow him to warn his brothers about that place of torment, but he was not allowed to do so. I never liked that story. It made me very uncomfortable for a lot of different reasons. Listening to it always triggers one of those, "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy" moments. It was also frightening because rich and poor are such relative concepts. I remember hearing about how the average American lives in absolute luxury compared to those in third world countries. The people there think that someone is rich if they can have three meals a day. What if God someday judged all of us as not having done enough to help them?

I never liked that story, but right now it is helping me put something important into perspective. Through my human eyes on Earth, our political leaders look like giants, invincible and insurmountable. Consider, though, how they may look through God's eyes. Like the rich man at the end of the story, they may look very weak and pitifully needy. What if they are the lost sheep? Could they be in danger of losing their souls? No matter how I feel about what they are doing, I can't deny that they are God's children, too.  I have to pray for them.  

When Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, he knew that what they were doing to themselves was far worse than anything that they could do to us. He knew that they were really someone to be pitied, not hated. By praying for them, we also help ourselves. If God softens their hearts, they will have a different reaction to us, and if we show them mercy, God will remember that we did it, and mercy shall be ours when its time for judgement. 

                                              "Its a choice we're making, we're saving our own lives..."

                                                       WE ARE THE WORLD by USAforAfrica (1985)