There is a haunting quotation in Paradise Lost by John Milton. He wrote, “Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe.” To retaliate with force is a natural human reflex. If someone strikes us, if we do not pause to think, we hit back. Should we vanquish our enemy by superior force we still have to deal with the person we see in the mirror. What is even worse, often our victory reinforces our native response and we are brutalized by our own prowess. We are internally worse than before we began.
Jesus’ message in the Sermon on the Mount to turn the other cheek is foreign to our nature. If it had not been for what happened to Him from Gethsemane to the Cross we would have been tempted to say His teaching was mere idealized wishful thinking. But it wasn’t. For Jesus it was real. He could have at any moment called legions of angels to come to His rescue. (Legions would not have been necessary. One angel would have been sufficient to wipe His foes from the face of the earth like we swat mosquitoes.)
Our literature, our films, our entertainment(?) is replete with tales of revenge and retaliation. We feed on this. It makes us feel good when the bad guy gets his due. The challenge for our characters is to truly become like Jesus and to respond as He. The close of the Book of Revelation presents us with the final destruction of evil and Lucifer. We are tempted to think it will be a moment of great joy and personal satisfaction for Jesus. However, as grand as it will be to have sin no more, Jesus will weep. Lucifer was a dear old friend.
Written by Roger Bothwell on August 1, 2012
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org