Comedian George Burn's club gave a big dinner in honor of his ninety-fifth birthday. The dais was loaded with talent. One of the first speakers was Irving Brecher, the creator-writer of the popular television show of the fifties, THE LIFE OF RILEY, and the director of many fine movies.
Here is what Brecher had to say about Burns: "What is so unusual about our guest of honor this evening is that in a profession that is so frenetically competitive ” where the pressure to make it big is so intense that often friends turn on one another ” George Burns does not have a single enemy." Brecher paused for a moment, then added, "They all died." (1)
One of James Thurber's funniest stories concerns his grandfather, who fought as many as a dozen Indians bare-handed ” to hear him tell it ” and vanquished them all. On his deathbed, he was asked by his minister, "Have you forgiven all your enemies?" "Haven't got any," said the old man. "Remarkable," the minister remarked, "but how did a red-blooded, two-fisted old battler like you go through life without making any enemies?" Thurber's grandpop explained casually, "I shot ˜em." (2)
WHO ARE YOUR ENEMIES? That's the question for the morning. Now you may say, "I don't have any enemies."
A little girl wrote to her pastor:
Dear Pastor,
I heard you say to love our enemies. I am only six and do not have any yet. I hope to have some when I am seven. Love, Jennifer.
That may be your attitude. "I don't have any enemies. I love everybody and everybody loves me." Maybe so. Or maybe we need to stretch our view of who an enemy may be. Could someone in your family be an enemy? A sister-in-law, perhaps, even a parent? Or maybe someone with whom you work? Maybe it's someone you're in competition with.
In the early days of electric lights in this country, Thomas Edison was promoting DC current, the kind you find in batteries, and George Westinghouse was promoting AC current, the kind that today comes through electrical lines. As homes were being wired for electricity, Westinghouse's AC current was winning out.
Edison, hoping to undermine the popularity of Westinghouse's AC current, hit upon a plan. Edison had been asked by a member of the New York State commission on capital punishment to help them come up with an alternative form of execution to the customary hanging. Tying his two problems together, Edison invented the modern electric chair ” using Westinghouse's AC current. When names were suggested for this type of execution such words as "electricide" were put forward. Edison, however, was adamant. He wanted them to say that the condemned criminal had been "Westinghoused!" (3)
Competitors may become enemies. Not just in business but within the family. Brothers compete, sisters compete, spouses compete. Friends compete. Neighbors compete. Nothing wrong with that. But feelings can be rubbed raw. Resentment can build. Soon a neighbor is secretly glad to see another neighbor's misfortune.
Who is your enemy? There may be persons whom we secretly harbor ill feelings toward that we have never thought to classify under Jesus' definition as enemies. But in a sense they are enemies. They are persons for whom we have ill feelings, or they are persons who harbor ill feelings toward us. Of course, some enemies may arise because we try to do the right thing.
I recall a story about a pastor who was concerned about some unsavory businesses that had opened near a school. His protests finally led to a court case, and the defense attorney did all he could to embarrass the pastor.
"Are you not a pastor?" the lawyer asked. "And doesn't the word pastor mean `shepherd'?" To this definition the minister agreed. "Well, if you are a shepherd, why aren't you out taking care of the sheep?"
"Because today," said the pastor, "I'm fighting the wolves!" (4) Well, there are wolves out there. Some enemies need to be made. If there are persons who are hurting others and you are in the position of being able to stop them, then that is an enemy you need to make. Notice that Jesus did not say, "Do not have enemies." Anyone who tries to do anything of significance in this world is going to have enemies. I can guarantee you that both Mother Teresa and Billy Graham, as respected as they were, had enemies.
Who are your enemies? Your enemy could be someone who is tempting you to do wrong. Your enemy may be someone who has hurt you in the past and that hurt lingers and will not go away. Your enemy could be someone you simply disagree with strongly, but that disagreement has caused a barrier to be erected between the two of you. Who is your enemy? That is the first question for the morning. The second is this: HOW IS YOUR ENEMY AFFECTING YOU SPIRITUALLY?
There are three ways you can respond to an enemy. First of all, you can retaliate. You may remember the old story about a man who was informed by his doctor that he had rabies. The man had waited so long to go the doctor that nothing could be done about his condition. After telling the sad news, the doctor left. Later, he stopped back by to check on the patient who was writing something on a piece of paper. "Are you writing a will?" the doctor asked. "No," said the man, "I'm making a list of all the people I'm going to bite!"
Back in 1940 a paper boy was nipped by a dog as he made his deliveries. He reported it to the Humane Society, which took the animal in for observation, kept it a few days, and released it to the owner. She never forgot the incident. Decades later she continued tormenting the former newsboy with phone calls.
Our newspapers carry stories all the time of people who have a grievance against someone else and they tried to settle that grievance through retaliation.
Spiritually, retaliation is deadly. There was a television movie that pointed out how deadly it is. It was about a young man who had a love-hate relationship with his father. He was trying desperately to hurt his dad in a business deal. When his stepmother learned of it and chastised him, he responded, "I just wanted to beat him once." And she replied, "You haven't beaten him. You have become him." (5) And that's true. Retaliation does permanent damage not only to our enemy but to us as well. We become different people ” twisted and evil. But that's one way of dealing with an enemy ” retaliate.
Another is to secretly harbor resentment toward that person. This is probably the most common spiritual problem among Christians. We are nice people. We wouldn't openly harm anyone, but, boy, can we bear a grudge! The problem with harboring negative feelings toward someone else is, again, what those feelings do to us.
In 1844 Captain Robert Stockton brought his ship, the Princeton, to Washington to display her before government officials and leading social figures. While the ship was a technological marvel and her firepower was vast, Stockton was really proudest of one particular gun. That gun, called the Peacemaker, was the biggest and heaviest naval cannon then in existence. It weighed 13 1/2 tons and fired cannon balls that were a foot in diameter and weighed 225 pounds. The gun could shoot a cannon ball several miles with a normal 25-pound charge of gunpowder, and the gun had been tested with up to a 50-pound charge. What power!
During the celebrations on the Princeton, Stockton fired his gun repeatedly for a crowd made up of the President, his cabinet, influential senators, and other dignitaries. While festivities were in full swing below, Stockton was summoned to fire the gun one more time. Most of the cabinet and the Senators did not come back up on deck this time. President Tyler started up and then stayed to hear his son-in-law finish a song. When Stockton did fire the gun, it exploded ” killing 2 members of the President's cabinet and a number of other influential men. Had the explosion occurred at any point earlier, the gun probably would have removed the better part of the U.S. Government. (6) The gun that was to be an amazing terror to an enemy proved to be an explosive terror to friends. Retaliation and resentment are both explosive terrors to the one carrying them.
JESUS SAYS THERE IS A THIRD WAY TO DEAL WITH AN ENEMY – WE CAN LOVE THEM. Sometimes, for our own sake, that is the only way we can deal with our enemies.
When Kenneth Godfrey of Locust Grove, Georgia was eighteen years old his father died. All of his adult life his father had owned and operated a service station and people purchased items on credit. After his father died his mother and he tried to run the service station. His mother opened the station every morning and after school Kenneth went down and worked until they closed. As he worked he began to notice a large file of debts that had accumulated through the years. Since his father had died people were refusing to pay what they owed. It was as if his death cancelled their debt. This bothered Kenneth. Statements were sent and the statements were ignored. After a year and a half Kenneth and his mother sold the service station and got out of the business. They kept that file of debts, in hopes that those who owed them would someday pay. Another year went by.
One Sunday afternoon Kenneth's mother walked into the room with that file of debts in her hand and announced. "Son there is something that is eating at me about these debts and I have decided to do something about them."
Kenneth thought, we are finally going to get a lawyer. Kenneth asked, "What are you going to do?"
She said, "I am going to forgive them."
"How are you going to do that?" Kenneth asked.
She said, "Follow me and I will show you."
They went out into the backyard and gathered some sticks and made a fire on an old cook-out grill. Then she opened the file of debts, took one out, read their name out loud, tore the debt in half and said, "I forgive you," and dropped it into the fire. She looked at Kenneth and asked, "Son, would you want to try it?"
Kenneth said, "I don't think I can."
His mother said, "Son, you don't have a choice about it, if you want to be forgiven, you must forgive them." Kenneth stood there in silence watching her burning those debts. Finally, he slowly reached into the file, got out a debt, read their name out loud, tore it up and dropped it into the fire. It took a good thirty minutes to complete the task, but when it was finished it was as if a heavy burden had been lifted. As he forgave he was forgiven.
"Because of this demonstration in forgiveness," says Kenneth, "that phrase in the Lord's prayer, `...forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us...' has taken on a whole new meaning."
Forgiving our enemies is the first step toward loving them. You say, "But pastor, what she did to me was too horrible. I can't forgive." And I ask, who is your anger and resentment hurting most of all? My guess is that it is worse on you than it is your enemy. Why not begin with a clean slate from this day forward? Why not clear the decks and make a new start, today?
1. George Burns, WISDOM OF THE 90S, (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1991), pp. 186-187.
2. Source unknown.
3. "The Time Machine," AMERICAN HERITAGE (Jul/Aug, 1990, pg. 36).
4. Warren W. Wiersbe, BE COMPLETE, (IL: Victor Books, 1981), p.
5. Paul W. Powell, BASIC BIBLE SERMONS, (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1992), P. 84.
6. Howard P. Nash, Jr., "The `Princeton' Explosion," AMERICAN HISTORY ILLUSTRATED (August, 1990), pp. 4-11.