VENGEANCE IS MINE
Romans 12:9-21
Beloved, never avenge
yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written,
"Vengeance is mine, 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 this you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil
with good.
Dear Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors of the
West, and everyone else in their premier league of world politics. I, John of Volmoed, was lying in my bed early
one morning and thinking about the terrible and tragic events that have
recently occurred in Paris and elsewhere, and I decided to write this letter to
you. Greetings!
I know you probably won't receive this letter but if somehow
it lands on your desk, please know that the saints at Volmoed daily pray for
you as you exercise your awesome responsibility in times like these when
everything seems to be falling apart. We
would not want to be in your shoes, and nobody would want us to be. We also know that politics is about the art
of the possible not the impossible dream, and that you have to weigh up many
conflicting interests in making your decisions -- those of the people who vote
you into power, big business, the military and armaments industry,
international relations and national pride, and your own values, hopes and
ambitions.
We understand that when the enemy strikes and innocent
people are slaughtered, then the response the people want, and the gut response
of most political leaders and every nation under the sun since Cain took
vengeance on Abel, is, to retaliate. The
more threatening your response, the less you will lose face amongst your peers
and people. Therefore war must be declared and bombers launched to
destroy the strongholds of the enemy. This
has invariably happened in history and most people support such action. In this climate of fear and revenge, daily
fed by the media, it is unlikely you will want to read the Bible or listen to
the pope before you respond, though you might get religious support from those
who are ready to give you their divine blessing. But if by chance you do listen to the
prophets and open the Bible you will find this passage written by Paul to
Christians living in Rome, the heart of the Empire, the ancient equivalent of
Washington DC.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves,
but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is
mine, 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 this you
will heap burning coals on their heads.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Of course, these words were not addressed to political
leaders responsible for taking care of the weighty affairs of government but to
a small congregation of Christians who
were suffering persecution. They could
not really have taken vengeance on the Empire persecuting them; they were
powerless. By contrast you have the
power to play God, and your oath of office does not include making a commitment
to ,love your enemies. Who can possibly love ISIS, except those thousands of
angry, alienated and vengeful Muslim young people and former Sunni soldiers of
Saddam Hussein?
Even though not all of you would claim to be Christian, for
political reasons at least it is convenient at such a time to evoke the
historical myth of Western Christian Civilization. Our leaders did that during the dark days of
apartheid. We were engaged, they told
us, in a life and death struggle against godless Communism. But in the end we discovered that we were not
defending Christian civilization, we were defending our own interests and that
the way we were doing so was anything but Christian. In fact, Western civilization is not
necessarily or normally Christian at all if by Christian we mean following the
teaching of Jesus. After all, the
so-called Christian nations of Europe which are now united in a fragile
alliance fighting terrorism have often
been at war with each other, killing and maiming millions for the sake of
honour and revenge, or control of resources.
There was nothing Christian about the bombing of Coventry or the
vengeance that then led to the destruction of the city of Dresden. We at Volmoed are particularly aware of this
because we are part of the Community of the Cross of Nails which grew out of
these terrible bombings and the decision of the Dean of Coventry Cathedral to
forgive and work for reconciliation.
Vengeance was not Christian; forgiveness and reconciliation was. You see, to defend Christian civilization
means defending Christian values, and acting accordingly. The issue is not
about protecting your citizens, that is your duty, but the danger of fostering
a culture of fear, hate and revenge in which humanity and dignity is eroded in
a spiral of violent reprisal. The only victors
are those who manufacture weapons, which are increasingly used against all of
us.
You cannot always govern according to "Christian
principles, turning the other cheek when terrorists blow up taverns. Hitler has to be stopped in his tracksas does
ISIS. But if vengeance is the driving
motive in doing so, it will devour you as much as it devours your enemies, for
vengeance begets retaliation. The
bombing of Baghdad begets terrorism in Boston, London and Paris. So consider the consequences. The more jihadists you bomb the more are
born. Today's terrorists are the
grandchildren of those who suffered from brutal wars in Algeria, Palestine,
Iraq, and other countries that were once European colonies, even though these
disillusioned and dangerous young men and women have grown up in Europe and now
have European passports. Why is it that
after living in and being educated in Europe they have turned against Europe and
the West? What has gone wrong? Has Western civilization failed in convincing
them about the values which we all cherish?
Has the Christian West lost its soul in trying to gain the whole world?
The only long term solution to the crisis we face and defeat
the ideology that is threatening to destroy civilization, is one driven by moral
values that transcend selfish national interests. The alternative, the path of vengeance, is war
without end. Is that the kind of world
we and future generations really want to live in? Maybe those who manufacture armaments don't
want wars to end, maybe terrorists don't, and maybe those religious extremists
who are wanting Armageddon to erupt don't, but sane people do, and those who
seriously follow Jesus do.
So our prayer for you is that you may be able to see beyond
the immediate challenge and count the longer term cost and consequences of your
actions. Our prayer for you as you
search for solutions is that you do do not compromise your own moral
integrity. Our prayer is that you and we
together may cherish those values which are fundamental to human flourishing
even in these critical times of terror: justice, compassion, tolerance,
hospitality, and a respect for human dignity among them. If we lose these even in fighting a just
cause, we will lose our souls just as empires and nations have lost their
theirs the more they have expanded and conquered. That is why the words of St.
Paul, even though written to a small band of powerless Christians in the belly
of the Empire still speak to all of us today.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves,
but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is
mine, 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 this you
will heap burning coals on their heads.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
John de Gruchy
Volmoed 26 November 2015
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