It’s obvious for the average person to note how corrupt and broken the entire world is as a whole. It is filled with chaos and conflict – war, murder, deception, rape, child abuse – you name it. The devil and his minions are alive and well.
When we switch on our televisions and tune them to the news, a typical reality TV show, or perhaps, dare I say, the Republican and Democratic parties’ debates for the 2016 Presidential election, we are instantly bombarded by messages of disdain. Whenever we as a Church hear about radical Muslims beheading our Coptic Orthodox brothers in Libya, the child sex crimes committed by Jared Fogle and Russell Taylor, or the latest inflammatory things said by Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, most of us tend to step back and say, “Wow, what horrible people! What monsters! What-“ Well, you get the point. I’ll save you the trouble of hearing the massive strings of four letter words that a lot of us think of when we hear about people we don’t like doing things we don’t like.
I feel like, to an extent, we’re almost encouraged to hate those people. There’s an aura of negativity towards people who do wicked things. Right now, I’m thinking of a fire and brimstone Protestant pastor standing at the pulpit, yelling, “They all deserve to go to hell and burn forever for all eternity under the red-hot wrath of God!” It’s easy for most Christians – even the Orthodox – to be tempted to think those sort of thoughts when we are hurtfully mistreated, or see others hurtfully mistreated.
Given my background, I completely understand these emotions. I was raised in a very hectic household, and have only recently resolved some of the issues I’ve had with my family members. I was bullied relentlessly by neighbors for years over the stupidest of issues. I dealt with a sports coach who was extremely verbally abusive, and even struck me physically one time. Nowadays, I suffer from some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to all of the psychological problems I already deal with on an hourly basis. When someone mistreats me, or does something that I dislike – even a little bit, most of the time, the first instinct of my flesh is to assert that they deserve nothing less than death, no matter how insignificant the effects of whatever they did. At the same time, I also wanted infinite mercy towards those around me. I alternated back and forth as to which I wanted for others, however, the side of hatred in me more often won than the side of love and mercy.
Even though jumping to be hateful and spiteful towards those who offend and harm us may seem like the most productive and helpful option to us people, it is truly harmful to ourselves and others. Even though it feels good to rebuke and insult our perceived enemies, there are a number of moral problems involved.
When we are judging other people with comments like, “I wish that pedophile would be castrated,” or, “I hope that murder goes to hell,” and so on and so forth, we are saying that that person is worse than we are. We are saying that person’s actions make them less of a person, or a worse person, than we are, which in turn gives us the right to judge the state of that person’s worth, which we do not have the right to do. People who cast such harsh judgement on sinners are saying that that person is somehow more worthy of judgement than they are. The Letter St. James 2:10 clearly says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” In St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Chapter 3, he says, “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
You are looking at someone who has done horrible things, and saying that their sins are worse than yours, and that they are more deserving of punishment than you are. Yet, the writings of the Holy Apostles clearly contradict this idea. You aren’t both graded on a number scale – Jared Fogle and Dylann Roof do not receive a -900, while you receive a -10, you both get a zero. You either get a one, or a zero – and we ALL have gotten zeros, regardless of what we’ve done.
The standard for how evil something is is not how much it harms other people, it’s whether you are obeying God or defying him. That is also a hit or miss scenario.
We are all equally deserving of the same separation of God, regardless of what we’ve done. Saying that you are better than someone else who has committed “worse” sins than you is simply an act of pride. It hurts realize that are you absolutely no better Hitler, or any other wicked person. This is why people try to build platforms to assert that they are better than others, so we don’t have to accept that we are just as bad as people who are considered the scum of the earth.
We may feel anger and hate towards those whom have harmed us, and we may want to harm them ourselves. But, this is also wrong; The First Letter of St. John, 3:15, says: “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.” We may still be angry at them, but if we completely despise them, think of them as less of a person, and never give them another chance, we are not giving them the room to be human. We are all human, therefore fallible, and thus, we are all susceptible to becoming wicked, or doing evil deeds.
Someone might say, “Alright, I don’t hate them, but I don’t think I can forgive them.
Forgiveness is also a requirement; the Gospel of St. Matthew 6:15 says, “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then the Father will not forgive your transgressions.” Christ has shown us infinite forgiveness for so many horrible transgressions, and thus expects us to strive to be like him in that respect. This may not be easy for us, but it is still something we must strive to do.
Mercy is also important. We have to realize that Christ showed infinite mercy to us through the Cross and Resurrection. The Jesus Prayer, one of the most important prayers in all Christianity, says, “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Justice is weighable with mercy. Again, if we treat other humans as if they are beyond redemption, we are undermining the power of Christ, and we are not giving them the room to be human. We are treating them as less than we are. We can have justice as a part of attempted rehabilitation, while treating the person as what they are: simply human. Not a monster, not a sub-human, a human. St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.”
A friend of mine who is a Byzantine Catholic – one of those who considers himself an Orthodox Christian in communion with Rome - said the following on Facebook a few days ago:
“Thought for today: People who have done horrendous things are no less worthy of change in the eyes of God and man. I hear of victims of abuse being changed into survivors. We congratulate them, put them on tv, make them our heroes. Must we not pray for, rejoice and edify even the most harden of hearts to change?”
The Orthodox Church teaches its members to embrace a mentality of love and mercy towards others, and for a reason. Comments like, “That person is an animal,” gives us the platform to increase our pride, which is wrong. Mercy and forgiveness towards “wicked” people is an obligation, not an option.
Glory to our God, always, now and forever, and from all ages to all ages, Amen.
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