REPLACING HATE WITH HEART
Mark 12: 28-34
Dr. Karl Menninger, esteemed psychoanalyst, once had a person
write to him and say: “‘My son is in the Army. He may never come back. He has a
little girl and I’m wondering if she and her generation will be different. Or
must the same old cycle go on—hating—arming—killing? Is there no science of peace?’ ‘Yes, replies
Menninger, ‘there is a science of peace, a science of [humanity pulling] for
itself and, by the same token, there is a remedy for war….Die we must, ultimately, but in the meantime we can live, if we can
love. This medicine, love, which cures all sorrow, was prescribed by Jesus
….” [Menninger Harcourt, Brace, and
World, Inc. 1970, p. 5] He wrote that in his book which he called LOVE
AGAINST HATE. Louis Pasteur once wrote: “Two contrary laws seem to be wrestling
with each other nowadays, the one a law of blood and death ever imagining new
means of destruction … the other a law of peace, work, and health ever evolving
new means of delivering [people] from the scourges that beset [them.] And it
was Freud who related those two contrary laws to the innate nature of human
beings, [recognizing] that the destructiveness of human beings is not the
result of some passing fever, some incidentally occasioned accident in the
normal course of life, but the expression of a deep persistent instinct. [Menninger Harcourt, Brace, and World, Inc.
1970, p. 5]
Our newspapers and television broadcasts have been filled
with venom over the elections to be held on Tuesday. Does your stomach knot up like mine over such
vitriolic accusations? Do you just want to vote for the candidate that does no
harm and speaks to the issues? Certainly meaningful debates and a candidate’s
track record are both important. But there is hateful publicity out there
today! The political stage is looking more like a Shakespeare tragedy. It will
die down; but when will the venom flow out of our political system? Will the
differences that divide the House, the Senate, and our nation settle down, or
will a wedge be left that reason cannot negate? In addition, our nation feels
the tensions of having more nations around the world besides our nation
developing nuclear capabilities. Who can
we trust when it comes to nuclear warfare? And, if we were in their shoes for a
minute, will they trust us with such awesome power? And so suspicion leads to
isolation rather than negotiation and our world faces real danger. One science
fiction writer, the late Gene Roddenberry, wrote a tale in the mid sixties
about two planets in the future that waged war with each other using computers;
their weapons were so powerful that using them would have rendered their
planets uninhabitable, so they attacked cyberspace targets on each planet with
computers, and by a trust but verify agreement, citizens in the destroyed areas
would be required to report to annihilation machines within 24 hours for their
demise. Can you imagine such a scenario? But sometimes it takes something
outrageous to point out the cataclysmic possibilities caused but conflicts and
wars.
For ages, there have been codes by which people have lived on
the earth that have brought them back from the brink of destruction. Like a
covenant of agreements for a city, a condominium, a club, or even a nation,
written records have been found that described actions and consequences of
those in that community. One such writing was the famous Code of Hammurabi from
We need laws to handle those who don’t respect other’s
beliefs and rights. But rather than focusing on laws that can make people leave
their homes with hearts wrapped in the tentacles of spite, Jewish code put two
different ways for heartfelt living with actions of justice when necessary. Jesus
used both of those code sources in his responses to Pharisees, rulers, experts,
and common people. Neither one was
original with Jesus, but was something he surely taught as a boy and put into
action as a man. He was quoting Torah, which we know as the first five books of
the Bible. The first quote was from the “Shema,” which meant “Listen!” It is in
Deuteronomy 6:6- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might.
If we were to just read Old Testament
stories, we might think the way God shows love seems, at times, as harsh as the
Code of Hammurabi. But each day, Jesus lived out the “Love God” requirement,
telling people to leave ten percent of their crops, telling them to care for
widows and orphans, telling about a father who humiliates himself for his child
and a shepherd who rejoices when he finds a lost sheep. Jesus shows us how to pray to, respect, and
listen to the guidance of God. Jesus shows us what it’s like to both trust and
love God. And then he goes to another
part of Jewish code, a positive part, and quotes from Leviticus 19:18! Who really reads Leviticus as if it were, say,
the Psalms? It is not a book that flows with poetry, but it does contain some nuggets of blessing
like this: “You shall not hate your
brother in your heart, and you shall reason with your neighbors, lest you bear
sins because of them. You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against
any of the people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Wow,
“thar’s gold in them thar hills!” Amidst all the hard to understand statues in
the Leviticus mine is that nugget of gold. “You
shall not hate your brother in your heart, and you shall reason with your
neighbors, lest you bear sins because of them. You shall not take vengeance or
bear any grudge against any of the people, but you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” Jesus mines that and shares it, attaching it to the Shema. Now
Christians call it the summary of the law, the 10 Commandments; some would even
say that by keeping those two guidelines we are more likely to keep the
commandments. Interestingly, Christians have never lowered the importance of
the Jewish 10 commandments; they are also our
commandments and they, like covenant codes, help give guidance to those who
show utter disrespect for others. But
for those who start with a heart of love instead of hate, we have a chance to
find new ways of dealing with each other rather than with slanderous political
ads, with bombs, with walls built higher and stronger, and with threats. I
personally would like to be a change agent to that kind of living; Jesus
preached it; many of the saints lived it. What will be your legacy? Will you to
work to offer light to our dark world of litigation, distrust, and disrespect,
or live with a heart wrapped in tentacles of hate? Let us ask Jesus for
guidance with this prayer in song, “Jesus thou joy of loving hearts.”
Jeffrey A. Sumner