I read a column in the Washington Post entitled, Hug an election denier. It was a gentle call to see the humanity in the person you believe has left reality behind and has embraced ways of thinking and operating that undermine our society. Given the nature of the article, it mainly addresses “moderates” and “progressives.”
The comments of readers of the article were revealing: Many who see themselves as progressives are not particularly progressive when it comes to seeing the humanity in those they labeled fascists or simply saw as gullible. While the right may tend to demonize the left, many on the left (who tend not to believe in demons) make the right out to be crazy or mentally deranged.
There were, however, also comments from those who understood the importance of loving others no matter their beliefs, actions, or conditions. One commenter quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
These words come from a Christmas sermon in 1957. Here is a fuller quote:
Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. So when Jesus says, “love your enemies,” he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition. Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies—or else? The chain reaction of evil—hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars—must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Pastor King knew something of what is required of us to “love our enemies.” He lived it, and we saw the power of people marching out of prayer meetings into the streets to face dogs and fire hoses and beatings and jail, and even death. We also witnessed change come to our society.
I recall John Lewis, in his book, Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement, writing of his experience on the first freedom ride when he was hauled off the bus and beaten. A police officer asked him if he wanted to press charges against the man who beat him. Lewis said something to the effect that the man who beat him was a victim of and a part of a system. Lewis was fighting the system. So, no, he was not pressing charges; he was getting back on the bus in order to bring down the Jim Crow system.
For John Lewis, love was central. He was attracted to the non-violent nature of the movement because it provided a way for love to act to bring about real change. Love allowed him to see the humanity in those who opposed his freedom. He was able to see beyond what they were caught up in. He was able to see what they could be if they let go of and were liberated from their racism.
Along the same vein, Frederick Douglass wrote of how the slaveholder also was a victim. His slave-holding robbed him of his humanity, robbed him of compassion and the ability to love; it deteriorated all his relationships. Abolish slavery and both slave and slaveholder are set free. At least, the slaveholder has the possibility of freedom, if he embraces it rather than seeks to reinstate slavery under other names.
“Love of enemies” is a spiritual reality. It comes from God who loves a broken, hurting, alienated humanity, a humanity that has made itself enemies of God, enemies of Love. We hear this love in the words of Jesus on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This love forgives; it looks beyond faults and sees needs. It changes the trajectory of our lives.
This love is a gift from God. It is grace. We can open our lives to it and be changed by it. The apostle Paul says it is the greatest gift. “Faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”