"If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, 'I will repay, says the Lord.' No, 'if your enemies are hungry feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals on their heads.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
That last one liner is a zinger! It's on par with Michelle Obama's "They go low we go high." Both express a sentiment that reaches for the best of our humanity—to seek to be the best we can be, causing the least harm to others. Underlying the thought is that love and kindness produce the most well-being, and to seek the well-being of ourselves and others is a better world than one where one wins and one loses. Nonviolence trumps violence. In my forthcoming book Pragmatic Nonviolence: Working Toward a Better World (Leiden: Brill, 2021) I make an argument that violence is the greatest obstacle to a world of well-being where human rights are respected, where fairness reigns, where everyone's capabilities are nourished and flourish, where care for the Other is paramount. I say, too, that nonviolence removes the obstacle of violence and paves the way for a better world.
And St. Paul gets me there ... almost. His insight fills me with hope: "Live peaceably." Yes! "Never avenge yourselves." Yes! "Nourish your enemies" Yes! "Overcome evil with good." Yes! St. Paul dots my "i"s and crosses my "t"s. But then he spoils it for me, for he adds "leave room for the wrath of God." And weirdly, that kindness to your enemies will cause them great pain, as much as heaping burning coals on their heads.
Here is my struggle: St. Paul leaves room for anger, vengeance, and visiting pain on his enemies. "I'm not going to hurt you but my God will." "I'll give you food and drink but it will be so painful for you." I so wish he had learned the use of the period (full stop). Love, period. Care, period. No vengeance, period.
Though, as they say, vengeance is sweet—from time to time don't we all want to get even with others—vengeance plays to our inner demons and not to our better angels. "You'll get yours!" "Payback time is coming!" feeds our lower selves, tastes sweet for a moment, but in the long term becomes bitter and solves nothing.
This pandemic summer has been a summer of deep unrest. Egregious police brutality, fueled by systemic racism and white privilege, has been exposed in such a way that we can no longer turn away from it. We have seen black citizens murdered and maimed under the guise of law enforcement. Understandably, and tragically, some have turned to violence to right the wrong. Our current situation is inextricably complex and doubtless simplistic solutions will likely not work. But the violence will solve nothing. More likely, violence will escalate and more hurt and damage and deaths will occur.
So, I come back to St. Paul's better angels. Evil will not be overcome by repaying in kind. Evil is overcome by good. The evil of violence will not be overcome by more violence. Violence is overcome by nonviolence. To burn the village to save the village has always been a foolish strategy.
Do good today.
+Ab. Andy