Independence Day (Observed) – The Rev. Mark S. Winward, MDiv,ThM
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” – Matthew 5:43-44, NRSV
The Mood of Our 250th Anniversary
Is it me, or does this 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation seem a bit subdued – especially compared to what I remember of our 200th anniversary? I was 15 years old during our Bicentennial in 1976, and you couldn’t get away from it. I remember parades, tall ships, fireworks, television specials, and a sense of anticipation and excitement that, to my young eyes, seemed to last for months. This year, as we celebrate our 250th anniversary – a quarter of a millennium of our nation’s life, and arguably an even more significant milestone than our Bicentennial – the mood feels very different. One of the things that saddens me most is that even flying the flag of the nation I dedicated most of my life to defending can now be interpreted as a political statement. I pray we can recover a sense of shared civic identity that rises above our political differences.
When Disagreement Becomes Enmity
Whether because of politics, media, social change, or simply the pace of modern life, many of us have the sense that we no longer know how to disagree without questioning one another’s motives. Too often we have come to view those outside our self-selected tribes as not only misguided but evil – as the enemy. Part of the reason for this is that we no longer know how to be people who simply disagree. As we’ve retreated into the echo chambers of our media choices, we’ve learned how to argue, how to label, and how to distrust others – but not how to love.
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies…” Notice what he actually says. He doesn’t say, “Agree with your enemies, pretend they are right, ignore injustice, or stop seeking the truth.” He says, “Love them.”
The Declaration and the Gospel
Two hundred and fifty years ago, our founders had profound disagreements with George III and, as a result, declared our independence. But what you don’t often hear is that the colonies themselves were deeply divided. Patriots, Loyalists, and a large number who simply hoped to stay out of the conflict all lived side by side. The result was a bloody war of independence that cost the lives of more than one in ten soldiers. Yet in the midst of such horrific division, the Declaration made a revolutionary claim: that all people – even our enemies – were not less than human. In fact, its opening declaration – “that all are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights” – assumes that we all possess a common dignity bestowed upon us by God. Regardless of your view of this nation’s history, that revolutionary concept laid the groundwork for modern constitutional democracies throughout much of the free world. But while the Declaration proclaims that all people inherently possess equal rights – even our enemies – Jesus goes even further. Jesus tells us that our enemies deserve our love.
Children of Our Father
Take a look at today’s Gospel in your bulletin. Jesus tells us the reason for loving our neighbors, our enemies, even our persecutors. He adds, “…so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good.” Jesus doesn’t appeal to fairness or even justice. He appeals to God’s character and our calling to reflect it as God’s children. God causes the sun to shine on Democrats and Republicans. God sends rain on conservatives and progressives. God feeds people whose theology is right and people whose theology is wrong. The Father refuses to divide creation into tribes deserving of grace and tribes excluded from it. So if we are God’s children, shouldn’t we love like our Father in heaven?
The Witness of the Church
Jesus was speaking from firsthand experience, as were the people following him. They weren’t dealing with online arguments or political slogans. They had enemies – people like the Romans, Pharisees, and zealots – who sought to betray, imprison, beat, and even kill them. Yet Jesus concludes by asking, in effect, how are we any different if we love only those who agree with us – only those who belong to whatever tribe we identify with?
While our Declaration grounded equality in the Creator, Jesus grounds all of humanity in our common relationship to a loving Father. And while the founders’ Declaration was remarkable in a time of radical inequality, the love Christ calls us to is even more radical. Our Church has an opportunity to model something our culture deeply lacks. Imagine what the world would look like if Christians became known not for winning arguments, excluding others, or denigrating our enemies, but for loving people as children of God – even if they do not love us back.
Our nation will always have political disagreements. It always has. The question before us is whether the Church will simply mirror those divisions or bear witness to something greater. Jesus does not call us to agree with our enemies. He calls us to love them, to pray for them, and, in doing so, to reflect the character of our Father in heaven. If we can learn to do that, perhaps our neighbors will see in us not another political tribe, but the family of God.