"It is a commendable thing if, being aware of God, a person endures pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do good and suffer for it, this is a commendable thing before God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.' When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly." (1 Peter 2:19-23)
I'm not often one to quote the 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (especially since he detested Christianity), but he did make a particularly haunting point when he wrote, "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster." He was right. It is so terribly, damnably, easy for us to do monstrous things if we have told ourselves we are just getting back at those who have committed monstrosities against us first, or if we tell ourselves that we are the heroes and they are the monsters. So, fair point, Freddie.
But we didn't have to go reading German philosophers to learn that lesson; the New Testament has been saying it to us pretty clearly for twenty centuries (so Mr. Nietzsche is a bit late to the party), and many of us heard these words from what we call First Peter just this past Sunday. The writer of our Second Lesson from Sunday is calling the followers of Jesus not to return evil for evil, abuse for abuse, or monstrosities in exchange for monstrosities. We are a people called to the way of Jesus, which answers hatred with love, speaks blessing in answer to cursing, and seeks the well-being even of enemies. As another New Testament voice (Paul, writing to the Romans) said it, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." That's not just a bonus side project of Christianity or a higher-level goal for the spiritual heavyweights; it's at the center of the way of Jesus.
In their original context, these words from First Peter were written specifically to the enslaved population within the Christian community, in response to situations of abusive masters. And while we might wish that Peter had come down more clearly to call for the outright abolition of slavery (as Christians eventually did in the ancient empire, and then later after the emergence of the African slave trade), it's worth recognizing that he's speaking to people who do not have the power to end slavery as an institution within their society, but who do have the choice of who to respond when they are mistreated. When their "masters" act like monsters, abusing them or hurting them (or even just in enslaving them in the first place!), they have the choice of answering that evil with more evil, or of refusing to keep the cycle of retribution going. First Peter says, without saying that slavery is acceptable or endorsing its cruelty, that the followers of Jesus are called not to give into the temptation of meeting that cruelty with more cruelty of their own. We are called to be different: we don't answer the world's rottenness in kind. We don't inflict abuse in return for abuse or threats and angry bluster when those things are lobbed at us. In short, even when others act monstrously, we will not let ourselves become monsters. We do not sink to the level of those who will use violence, spite, or force to get their way; we do not have to cooperate with them, and we do not have to use their tactics.
It is a truly radical thing, if you think about it, that the first followers of Jesus were so strongly committed to this counter-cultural way of life. It is so tempting, so fitting with "conventional wisdom," to conclude that when your adversaries are doing terrible things to you, that you have no choice but to do the same (or worse) terrible things back to them. But of course, that's really just letting the adversary win, because you allow their mindset to infect yours, and their tactics to overpower your own strategy of responding. As First Peter shows us, the Christian community is different. Instead of saying, "Well, the other guys are mean, cruel, and abusive, so we can do the same," the family of Christ said, "No, our calling is to be like Jesus, who answered evil with good, hatred with love, and cruelty with compassion." Jesus would not let himself be goaded into becoming a monster, and so we are not to let ourselves, either. We may not be able to die for the sins of the world, but we can let our willingness to endure suffering rather than inflicting it be a witness to the way of Jesus. We can let our lives become embodiments of the kind of cross-shaped love God has shown to us by bearing our violence and cruelty there. We can even let our deaths be witnesses to such love. Like Walter Wink put it so well, "Martyrs are not helpless victims, but fearless hunters who stalk evil out into the open by offering their bodies as bait." Our refusal to give into the tactics of monsters is what will bring the monsters out into the open and expose them. And our willingness to show love in the face of cruelty is what shows to the world that there is an alternative to monstrosities.
Even more than that, our willingness to answer evil with good and hatred with love gives people a glimpse of the Gospel itself, since the heart of the Good News is God's own willingness to endure our evil and hatred inflicted on the cross and God's choice to answer it all with self-giving love and mercy. As First Peter says, Christ suffered for us, which is to say that God chose to bear suffering at our hands. Our willingness to do the same rather than return evil for evil isn't just about following Jesus' example; it's also about being a witness to the Good News. The message we bring to the world of a God who loved us despite our violence, spite, and cruelty (as we inflicted on Jesus) becomes real for people when they see in us the willingness to live by that same kind of love.
So yeah, the old philosopher's warning holds true: we should be careful not to let ourselves become monsters in the name of fighting the ones who act monstrously. Instead, we are called to embody the character of Jesus so that others will see the family resemblance in us and come to know the way God's love has reached out to all of us, even at our worst. We have the opportunity to be such witnesses today, in small and big ways, right where we are. That's how we overcome evil with good, even on this day.
Lord Jesus, give us the courage to respond to the violence and cruelty of the world in your way of self-giving love, so that our lives might bear witness to your goodness.
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