Loving Our Enemies

Gross-Schlönwitz, Third Sunday
after Epiphany, January 23, 1938

The northern edge of East Pomerania, formerly part of Germany but now in Poland, is a windswept plain along the Baltic coast where trees and wooden houses are bent by the wind and where winters are icy cold. In 1937, Bonhoeffer brought part of his pastoral training group to live in the parsonage in the little village of Gross-Schlönwitz. Here he hoped to provide them with a safe and quiet place for study and to teach them to help in ministry in the small parish. He preached this sermon on the third Sunday after Epiphany in the village church of Gross-Schlönwitz. Notes found on the last page of the manuscript indicate that he probably used the sermon as an example for discussion in a homiletics (preaching) class. The first line of the text for the sermon, “do not claim to be wise,” is taken from the Luther Bible, which is the version that Bonhoeffer used.

Romans 12:16c–21: . . . do not claim to be wise. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 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.

“Mercy has befallen me”—as we just sang. The same hymn is sung by the entire Christian church-community on each new day. “Mercy has befallen me”—when I still closed my heart before God, when I walked on the path of my own sin, when I loved my sin more than God, when through my sin I lived in pity and misery, when I had gone astray and could not find my way back—this was when God’s word met me and I heard: God loves me. This was when Jesus found me. He was with me—he alone—he comforted me and forgave all my sins and did not count the evil against me [2 Cor. 5:19]. “Mercy has befallen me.”

When I was hostile toward God because of God’s commandments, God dealt with me as one would with a friend. When I committed evil against God, God did only good to me. God did not make an accounting of my evil, but looked for me tirelessly and without bitterness. Jesus suffered with me; he died for me. Nothing was too difficult for God, for my sake. This is when God overcame me, and had thus won over an enemy. The father had found his child again. Is that not what we mean when we sing this hymn? Even though I do not understand why God loves me so much, why I was so precious to the Almighty, even though I cannot grasp that Christ could and wanted to overcome my heart through his life, now I can say: “Mercy has befallen me . . .”

Yet precisely because I do not grasp and understand any of this, our text states: “Do not claim to be wise “—that is, you may be very smart and competent people in your business, at your work, but there is one thing that by nature you do not know anything about at all. There is one aspect where you are as unwise and as foolish as an underage child—namely, in the divine things of mercy or, much more, in how an enemy turns into a friend, how an enemy of God is overcome.

Our text for today speaks about the behavior of Christians in relation to their enemies or how Christians “overcome” their enemies. This question will always be of great importance for the life of the individual and of a Christian church-community. Yet we are so absolutely ignorant about this, and we have such completely wrong thoughts, that our text begins with: “Do not claim to be wise.” First and foremost, this might be a reminder of how incomprehensible God’s way with us was to our wisdom. Truly, it is foreign and inaccessible to our wisdom that God sought us, forgave us, that our Father sacrificed his Son for us, and thereby won over and converted our hearts. With that we are told: If you meet an enemy, think first about your own enmity against God and about God’s mercy toward you.

“Do not claim to be wise”—this then is an important reminder about the beginning of our human race. The devil promised wisdom to Adam and Eve, offering to make them as wise as God, and they were to know what is good and evil [Gen. 3:4–5]. With that they were supposed to become judges over good and evil. Since the time when Adam accepted the devil’s gift of wisdom, all human beings think that they know something about all divine things and have something to say about them. They imagined that they would now know how to deal with God and with humankind. With the aid of their wisdom, they would now certainly build a good world. But what happened? The first son of Adam and Eve was Cain, the murderer of his brother [Gen. 4:1–16]. The first human being born of humans on this earth was a murderer of his brother. This is when the seeds of evil sprouted. This was the fruit of the wisdom of the first human beings!

Does this give us something to think about? “Do not claim to be wise”—lest you become murderers of your kin. Do not believe that you know how to deal with human beings, with enemies, or that you know what is good or evil, or otherwise human beings will devour each other. “Do not claim to be wise”, but focus on God’s path to humankind, how God meets enemies, that path that Scripture itself calls foolish [1 Cor. 1:18], the path of God’s love toward all enemies, the love that Christ extends to them all the way to the cross. It is wisdom at its best to recognize the cross of Christ as the invincible love of God for all humankind, for us as well as for our enemies.

Or do we think that God would love us more than our enemies? Do we think that we of all people are the favorite children of God? If we thought that way, then we would be deeply rooted in pharisaism, then we would have ceased being Christians. Does God love our enemies less, having come for them, suffered for them, died for them as well as for us? The cross is not the private property of any human being, but it belongs to all human beings; it is valid for all human beings. God loves our enemies—this is what the cross tells us. God suffers for their sake, experiences misery and pain for their sake; the Father has given his dear Son for them. Everything depends on this: that whenever we meet an enemy, we immediately think: this is someone whom God loves; God has given everything for this person. Therefore, do not consider yourselves to be wise. Concerning our attitude toward our enemies, this means first and foremost: Remember that you as well were God’s enemy and mercy has happened to you without your merit or deserving. Second, that means: Remember that God also went to the cross for your enemy and loves your enemy as dearly as you.

Therefore, “do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Let’s be very clear: there is a person, a neighbor, or someone else who continuously speaks ill of me, who vilifies me, who openly wrongs me, who plagues and tortures me at every opportunity. I only have to see this person, and my blood boils and I am filled by a terrible, threatening anger. The one who causes that within me is the enemy. But now I have to be careful. Now I need to remember quickly: mercy has happened to me, not by human doing, no, but by God, and for this person Jesus Christ died—and suddenly everything changes. Now we hear: do not repay anyone evil for evil. Do not lift your hand for a blow; do not open your mouth in anger but instead be quiet. What can the evildoer do against you? Evil done to you harms not you but the evildoer. Suffering injustice does not hurt any Christian. But the doing of injustice causes harm. The evil one wants to instill one thing in you, namely, that you will also become evil. But with that evil would surely win. Therefore, do not repay anyone evil for evil. You will harm not the other but yourself. You are not in danger when evil is done to you, but the other person is in danger, the one who perpetrates evil against you and will die in it unless you help. Therefore, for the sake of the other and for the sake of your responsibility for the other—do not repay anyone evil for evil. Has God ever repaid you in such a way?

“Take thought for what is noble in the sight of all . . . live peaceably with all.” With everybody, with all people—there is no exception. Be worthy of respect, not only toward the respectable, but also toward those who are not respectable; be peaceable not only with the peaceful, but especially with those who do not want to let us live in peace. Heathens can do the opposite, as well as we can. But Jesus Christ did not die for the respectable and for the peaceable, but especially for sinners and enemies, for those who are not respectable, the haters, the killers. Our heart always yearns to dwell among friends, among the just and the respectable. But Jesus Christ was in the midst of his enemies. He wanted to be precisely there. This is where we also should be. This is what distinguishes us from all other sects and religions. Their devout members want to be among themselves. But Christ wishes us to be among our enemies as he was. Amid his enemies he died the death of God’s love and prayed: Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing [Luke 23:34]. Christ wants to win his victory among our enemies.

Therefore, do not retreat, do not isolate yourselves, but “take thought for what is noble” for everybody, create peace with all people so far as it depends on you. “So far as it depends on you”—it is not in your hands if you are not left in peace, if you are vilified and persecuted. But “so far as it depends on you,” that means that you shall never be the source of strife. Your heart should always be full of peace. Does that mean that we should also leave the word of God unspoken for the sake of peace? Never—for is there a more peaceful word and deed than preaching about the peace that God has made with the world, with the human beings God created? “So far as it depends on you”—: one thing does not depend on you, namely, to leave God’s word unsaid, but it does depend on you to speak it for the purpose of peace, to speak it for the purpose of the peace of humankind with God, in the midst of a torn-apart and divided human world. Jesus made peace with us when we were enemies [Rom. 5:10]. He has also created peace with all our enemies, on the cross. Let us witness to this peace in front of everyone!

“Never avenge yourselves . . .” If I take revenge into my own hands, I am making myself the judge of the world and of humankind. The revenge I wanted to take will come upon my own head. In seeking revenge, I take the life of my enemy into my own hands and forget that God’s hand already rests upon this person for whom Christ died on the cross. Whoever seeks revenge on a human being undoes the death of Christ and becomes guilty of denying the blood of reconciliation. Christ died for me and for my enemy, for the salvation of both of us. If I seek revenge, I disregard the salvation of the other. That might not harm the other person, but by that very act I would break with the deeds of Christ.

Christ demands a difficult sacrifice from us, namely, to let go of our revenge, perhaps the most difficult, for all of human nature screams for revenge against enemies. The lust for revenge is stronger in our human blood than any other addiction. But this we know: we cannot take revenge anymore. If my enemy stands before my eyes and the craving for revenge overcomes me, at once Jesus Christ stands behind my enemy and bids me: do not lift your hand, vengeance is mine, I will take it.

“. . . Leave room for the wrath of God . . . I will repay, says the Lord.” What terrible words. Can we hear them and know what it means that God will take revenge, without asking at once: “No, do not take revenge; no, I do not and cannot wish that even my enemy should fall into God’s wrathful hands.” But God says: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay”; God wants to and has to wreak vengeance upon the evil. But—miracle upon miracle—God has already wrought vengeance in an incomprehensible way, not upon us who were enemies and who still sin against God every day, and not upon our enemies, but instead upon God’s own self, upon God’s dear Son. Upon Jesus God visited all our sins and punished them. God cast him out into the hell of despair and of abandonment by God. And in the same hour, Jesus prayed: Father, forgive them . . . This is God’s vengeance, namely, that of accepting self-inflicted pain and suffering while sparing and accepting us. This is God’s vengeance, namely, that of carrying the suffering on God’s own shoulders and forgiving all enemies. Does it not resonate in us: Do not consider yourselves to be wise! God’s paths to you are too wonderful and too superior, too merciful and too loving.

It remains astonishing that this word about the vengeance of God is followed immediately by the statement: “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 upon their heads” [Prov. 25:21–22]. For the enemy, God gave up life, gave up everything; now you give your enemies what you have: bread if they are hungry, water if they are thirsty, help if they are weak, blessing, mercy, love of the enemy. Are they worth that? Yes. Who would be worthy of our love, who would need our love more than the one who hates? Who is poorer than such a person, who is more in need of help, who is more in need of love than your enemy? Have you ever looked at your enemy in this way, as the one who basically stands in front of you, poor as a beggar, and who asks you, without being able to say it himself or herself: help me, grant me the one thing that can still lift me out of my hate, grant me love, the love of God, the love of the crucified Savior. Indeed, all threats and all showing of fists stem from this poverty, and at its root is begging for the love of God, for peace, for neighborliness. You repudiate the poorest of the poor when you repudiate your enemy.

Burning coals. Coals burn and hurt when they touch us. Love can burn and hurt as well. It teaches us to realize that we are poor as beggars. It is the burning pain of repentance that appears in the one who finds love, nothing but love, despite hate and menace. God has taught us to know this pain. When we felt it, the hour of repentance had come.

Now you are at the goal: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is what Christ did for us. He did not become confused by our evil; he did not let himself be overcome by it. He overcame our evil with good. Let’s repeat how that happens: not by feeding the other person’s evil with our evil, the hatred of the other person with our hatred. Rather, it happens when the evil hits emptiness and finds nothing on which it can ignite. How do we overcome evil? By forgiving without end. How does that happen? By seeing the enemy as he or she truly is, the one for whom Christ died, the one whom Christ loved. How will the church-community win victory over its enemies? By letting the love of Christ win victory over our enemies. Amen.