It was halftime in our high school basketball game. All of our starters burst into the locker room furious. “What’s going on?” I asked them.
Ronnie, our leading scorer and one of our seniors exclaimed, “They are playing dirty.”
“How are they playing dirty?” I asked.
“When the referee isn’t looking, they will punch you in the ribs or in the back,” Ronnie said. The others added that the other team was shoving, fouling, and doing whatever they could to try and draw a return blow.
“When we go back out there, I’m going to start slugging them,” said Ronnie with a vengeance. Some of the other team members vowed to return blow for blow.
Tommy, also a senior and a leader on the team, had another idea. He said something like, “You know, I’m not really following Jesus in my life right now, but back when I was, there was a teaching about how to handle such situations. The Bible says that we are not supposed to return evil for evil, and that vengeance belongs to the Lord. It says that if we return good for evil, the Lord will heap burning coals on their head. Let’s try not getting angry and vengeful, and see what happens.”
The team agreed to try that. At the beginning of the second half, the other team continued their tactic of trying to get our guys to hit back, knowing that it is often the return blow that draws the referee’s attention. When the other team realized that our team was going to maintain emotional control and not be drawn into a slugfest, they seemed to give up, and we built on the lead we had already established.
You might say we put the royal stomp on them in terms of the final score. The vengeance the Lord gave us was not in returning blow for blow but blowing them out of the gym and sending them home with a sound beating on the scoreboard.
The scripture Tommy referred to was Romans 12:9-13. St. Paul knew that if Christ is in our hearts, we will react to persecution, oppression, and injustice like Jesus would react. Paul was not saying that we should never stand up for ourselves or defend ourselves, but that we must love even our enemies and those who mistreat us.
We cannot avoid the evil that is in the world, but our reactions to it can be transformed by the power of Christ. We must learn to “not be overcome by evil, but [to] overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). When we pray for our enemies, attempt to minister to their needs, and show genuine concern and compassion for them, it just might change them.
St. Paul said that our loving actions expressed toward those who mistreat us will “heap burning coals on their heads” (Romans 12:20). That sounds vengeful, which is exactly what Paul discourages. I think he meant that our loving actions toward our abusers may open their consciences to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, possibly resulting in their conversion to the higher way of love expressed and lived by Jesus.
What a blessing that would be, to have enemies become brothers and sisters in Christ. Viewed through the lens of what God is up to in saving the souls of people, acts of hatred visited upon us become not curses, but opportunities to overcome evil with good, which may bring others to Christ.
When people see that Christ has changed our hearts from vengefulness to compassion it gives others hope that they, too, can be changed and transformed from living in the domain of evil to living in the province of love, joy, and peace.
Dr. Dan Darby is a retired United Methodist pastor.
