Love That Exposes Hate
Matthew 5:43-44
“You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you…”
Does loving my enemy mean I have to be nice to those who actively mean me harm? In the name of love, must I share direct community even with people who don’t recognize my humanity?
In his earthshaking 1963 work The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin writes of love not as mere sentiment, not as forbearance on the part of the oppressed, but as a powerful force that insists on nothing less than oppressors’ total transformation.
He explains to his nephew that “if the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers [i.e. white USAmericans] to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it.”
If we love our enemies, we won’t let them get away with ignorance. We will name harm; we will assert boundaries. We won’t stay silent to “keep the peace”; we will insist on love that exposes hate.
Reflect: What do you think Baldwin means by “forcing” others to see themselves as they are, and how can we do that “with love”? When have you needed a “reality check,” and did anyone give it to you?
— Avery Arden
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