We have all felt the sting and bite of unjust treatment and criticism. Sometimes it feels like no matter what we do, we can't win. So why try? What's the use! The people who are criticizing you aren't out there on the road, spending their time and money in trying to do the right thing. They're just sitting around, holding meetings, and backbeating one another. How can the Christian play fair amid foul play?

Sitting down in a civilized manner to determine just how brutal we may act during the uncivilized act of war is a ludicrous undertaking. Even stranger, of course, is the reality that during the actual outbreak of war there is absolutely no way to enforce these previous agreements. We must simply rely on the sense of honor and integrity of our enemies to abide by our mutually-agreed-upon ethical standards. So if we trust our adversary that much, and they are that trustworthy, why are we trying to kill each other?

In the war in the Persian Gulf, old questions about "fighting fair" reasserted themselves. One of the greatest ironies of warfare is that while humanity is too selfish, vain, arrogant, and generally sinful to settle its differences without bloodshed, we have just enough of a sense of justice and mercy and compassion to compel us to lay down some governing guidelines for it. We voluntarily set boundaries about our aggressions, determining who and what is proper cannon fodder and how those we deem "acceptable kills" may die.

In early medieval times knights, the fighting elite, were not allowed to trample down or destroy the vegetation of their enemies. Destroying this future food supply was considered "foul play." During the American Revolutionary War the British regiments sustained heavy casualties because they insisted on lining up in neat, orderly, easily targeted rows during their assaults. The guerilla warfare style of the colonists (who learned it from the Native Americans) was considered "foul play." In World War I a new technological weapon, mustard gas, was employed with deadly effects. In World War II, then, poisoning troops to death with gas instead of shooting or bombing or burning them was not done. It was considered "foul play." Dropping atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ostensibly in order to avoid an armed invasion of Japan was "playing fair." But after witnessing the devastation and learning of the long-range planetary after-effects, any future use of nuclear weapons was considered "foul play." In the Gulf War Saddam Hussein bombed civilians in Israel and Saudi Arabia, paraded tortured POWs before cameras, and intentionally dumped million of barrels of oil into the gulf waters. In response to each of these instances we cried "foul play."

Jesus knew well that learning to endure foul play is one of the most difficult and ongoing lessons we experience. Throughout his ministry Jesus responded to the needs of the crowds that followed him and pressed in upon him. He cured them when they were sick. He fed them when they were hungry. He taught them when they were confused and ignorant. His compassion for the people was always worn on his sleeve. Yet despite all this giving, all this sacrifice, all this love ... he was still driven to the cross.

In this week's gospel text Jesus reveals that he is aware of the foul play he will experience at the hands of his own people - he will face "great suffering," he will "be rejected" by the most respected religious leaders, and he will ultimately "be killed" with the approval of those same leaders.

In his lessons on discipleship Jesus tries to get his followers to understand that they too will face a hostile world, a world that destroys those who confront its sins and shortcomings. For the soul to survive this world Jesus suggests guidelines to his disciples so that they may continue to play fair in the midst of foul play.

Disciples of Christ must learn to ignore the call of the self. It is the self that lashes out defensively when attacked. It is the self that tries to "get even." From Jesus and from Job we get a lesson in how to play fair when the self is crying out for retribution: Playing fair means choosing endurance instead of vengeance. What has colloquially been called "the patience of Job" is actually the trait of endurance. With his possessions, his family, his health, and his spirit in tatters, Job resists the temptation to "curse God, and die" (Job 2:9). Instead Job retains his integrity and endures. When Jesus is arrested and hauled before first Caiphas and then Pilate, he is taunted and hounded and even begged in attempts to get him to defend himself. But Jesus keeps silent and endures.

In his book A Pretty Good Person: What It Takes to Live with Courage, Gratitude, and Integrity (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990), ethicist Lewis Smedes talks about forgiveness as being "always a decision to put up with an uneven score." "In the inner act of forgiveness, people first surrender the right to get even." Context, 22 (15 January 1991),1

Christians don't get even, they forgive.

If there are seven deadly sins which tempt us throughout our lifetime to engage in "foul" behavior, there are at least seven guidelines we can use to try and keep us within the boundaries of fair play.

1. Don't walk away. Always remember: You learn more from your enemies than your friends. Take your critics seriously. Maintain relationships with them. Humble yourself and hang in there. Don't walk away.

2. Never get in a spraying match with a skunk. Never defend yourself. It only gives those misusing you more attention and ammunition. Speak the truth, but tell it straight: directly, simply, nonjudgmentally. Don't let them bring you down to their level.

If you have to cast a stone, be sure to miss. This comes from the autobiography of photographer Yousuf Karsh (In Search of Greatness [New York: Knopf, 1982]), who tells of having to carry rocks in his pockets to throw at his classmates who often harassed him for being Armenian. When his mother found this out, she said, "You must not let them bring you down to their level. If you have to cast a stone, be sure to miss."

3. No one ever gets what they deserve in life not the rich, not the poor; not the well, not the sick.

4. Hope for the best, while you prepare for the worst.

5. Pray without ceasing. Paul asked his friends to "strive together with me in your prayers" (Romans 15:30).

6. Keep a sense of humor; it carries us through the rough times. Someone once said, Children are a wonderful way to start people." The story of the Roman Catholic bishop who was visiting one of his churches and administering confirmation to the children reminds us of this. With a particularly nervous parish priest at his side, the bishop asked one of the confirmands, "What is matrimony?"

The little girl replied, "Matrimony is a state of terrible torment which those who enter it are compelled to undergo for a time to prepare them for a better and brighter worlds."

"Oh, no, no," broke in the crestfallen priest, his dreams of showing off his charges smashed in one moment. "That is purgatory, not matrimony. You know that!"

"Let the child alone, Father," replied the bishop. What do you or I know about it?"

7."Overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:20-21 - "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.") Work harder than your enemies; instead of vengeance, forgiveness (Mt. 6:14; Lk. 17:3, 4;23:34); instead of hatred, love (Mt. 5:43-45; Lk.6:27-31); instead of greed, sharing and sacrifice (Lk. 12:33, 34; 18:22); instead of violence, willingness to suffer (Mt.5:38,39); instead of control and domination, cooperation and service (Lk. 22:24-27).

In the midst of injustice and unfairness, one can still find the peace that the world cannot give (Jn.14:27); the peace that passes all understanding (Phil.4); the peace that comes from believing.