Scripture
“If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” 21Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” Romans 12:20-21
Observation
When Paul quotes King Solomon in Proverbs 25:21-22 he brings and Old Testament reality into our New Testament Christianity. Honestly, this is one of the most difficult passages to live out and I often wish Paul had just left it alone. Paul, however, was simply calling us to live out what Jesus Himself had taught, “love your enemies”. I used to read about the burning coals as a kid and think, “yeah, that’ll teach ‘em”. But, really it was about God teaching me how to love as He loves. In Egypt, there had been a custom to carry a pan of burning coals on one's head as a sign of repentance. When we come in the opposite spirit we choose to care about the eternal soul of our adversary rather than the opportunity to get revenge. When someone sets themselves against us and we choose kindness instead of reacting in kind we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Paul is simply building on the truth he already taught back in Romans 2:4, “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” In a sense, God was heaping coals on us through His kindness that led us to repentance. We didn’t deserve this kind of response, we were enemies of God, and yet He loved us enough to make a way back to Him. Now, Paul calls us to do the same for our enemies.
Application
I was watching a Netflix movie with my boys last night called Christmas Chronicles. Seeing Kurt Russell playing Santa Clause was all kinds of fun. The movie riffed off of the “coal in your stocking” motif in that anyone on the naughty list who received a gift would only find cool when they unwrapped the present. Even if the present had been something wonderful, their “naughtiness” would turn it into a lump of coal. This made for a funny gag and served to make the “bad guys’ even more upset at the “good guys”. Obviously God isn’t Santa and today’s passage drives home that point home with gusto. Where we would all try to “do good” to make it on the “nice list” all of us have fallen short of the glory of God. All of us are the “bad guys” in the story, even the nicest among us. Paul makes the point earlier in the chapter when he writes, “I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” (Rom. 12:3). In other words, we have no right to ignore our enemies because God didn’t ignore us while were His enemies. It’s one thing to avoid someone who hates me. It’s a whole other thing entirely to actively engage with kindness those who despise me. Yet, this is what we are called to do. We deserved coal in our stockings and yet Christ gave us the kingdom. We heap coal on the heads of our enemies when we respond in kindness in the hopes that our enemies will come to know Christ. We must come to this conclusion, that we will never look into the eyes of someone Jesus didn’t die for. No matter how awful someone is towards me I don’t want them in a Christless eternity. No matter how much I want to make someone pay for what they said or did, I must remember Christ paid the wages of my sin with His death. Is this ever going to be something I feel like doing? Nope. I do believe, however, that this is the gift our world needs most of all this Christmas. Regardless of how people vote, how people mock our faith, how people manipulate the system, make excuses for their sin, I don’t have the luxury of ignoring them or getting back at them for I have been called to love them. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, "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." This was said in a sermon he was preaching during the time of the Civil Rights movement and the practice of passive resistance and he couldn’t have been more in line with what Jesus and Paul are teaching us today. We must come in the opposite spirit to see people come to Christ.
Prayer
Lord, I have seen so much vitriol and anger from the Church lately. People mad about the election, mad about the abuse of power, mad about the overreach of government, mad about the manipulation of facts, and I have been right there with them in some cases. Our longing for justice has left us standing in judgment and that’s Your job. The dangerous thing is that this anger and offense has distracted us from our calling to love those around us. ALL those around us. We have drawn lines that You have erased through Your sacrifice and we have decided that not only do we not have to love everyone, but we can be downright rude and mean towards those who’ve been rude and mean towards us. This is not the way of the Christ-follower. We are called to lay down our rights and pick up our Cross and love the person in front of us no matter how much they don’t like us or are not like us. I’m so glad You’re not like Santa or I would be living with a life-time supply of coal. Your kindness led me to repentance and I pray my kindness towards others would do the same. Forgive me for this “us vs. them” mentality I can fall into so quickly. Thank You for the reminder that I don’t deserve what I’ve been given and that I’ve been called to serve not just my friends, but also my enemies.
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