[AI translation] With this sermon, I want to highlight a very narrow problem of detail in the Christian life, namely, how should a believer in Christ behave towards those who are hostile to him? We all live among men, and men are not angels, but men, full of misery, vanity, heartlessness, pride, sin, and trouble, all of which irritate us. It is not easy to bear the faults, the bad qualities, the annoyances, the remarks, the hostile feelings of the people around us! There are so many secret pains in the heart of a person, all caused by his environment. Many a sigh is torn from a soul because it is hurt, because it is despised, because it is not understood, because it is treated unfairly... People suffer most from each other, and often not from strangers, but perhaps from those closest to them. Brother from brother, mother from child, mother-in-law from daughter-in-law, neighbour from neighbour, worker from co-worker... If we were to take a closer look at the family homes, offices, workshops where people live together, we would be horrified at the evil deeds, great and small, that people commit against each other, at the bitter anger that builds up in hearts and bursts out in speech, at the wounds that are inflicted on souls... How men can make each other bitter for life! Well, that's what the Word teaches us today, how we followers of Christ are to react to the hostility and malice that is manifested towards us, how we are to relate to our enemies. How do we defend ourselves against them?And this is very important, because malice, hostility, always destroys and pulls us down. It is said that necessity teaches us to pray. But the need, which is always on, always renewed, may teach you to curse. One becomes desperate, distrustful, suspicious, even malicious. The general human wickedness which is all around us, and which is in flux, finds fertile and fertile soil in our hearts. The malice that is directed at me from others also arouses in me base feelings and passions. Evil sticks like dirt. It stains thoughts, feelings, speech! "As God giveth, so God receiveth," says the proverb. Man's natural instinct is to defend himself against the blow by striking back! And preferably more than the blow he has received, so that the other person is discouraged from attacking again! Sometimes, one carries the insult for years, and then, long afterwards, when no one would have thought it, an opportunity arises, and then he strikes back, then he repels it...
The general opinion is that one is forced to defend oneself in this way, because if one does not repulse the evil, if one does not strike back: one is defeated! It does not work! It only widens the gulf between the opposing parties. You cannot get rid of my enemy by a hostile attack. Just as you cannot put out fire with fire! Only increase it! Strengthen. To make it even bigger. To cast out Satan with Satan is impossible! By acting in a satanic way, we cannot overcome the satanic impulses in people. Gyűlölettel a gyűlöletet, rosszal a rosszat, sértéssel a sértést nem lehet elintézni, kiiktatni, leszerelni, megszüntetni, helyrehozni... Bitter cannot be sweetened with more bitter! This is not a good method! This is why the Bible repeatedly warns us, as Paul says in the Word we just read, "Do not take revenge for yourselves, my beloved." Do not follow this path! This is the natural way, it is what our reflexes run to, it is what everyone does: but not you! You cannot use the weapon of retaliation, of payback, of revenge, this weapon does not work in your hands! Nor in anyone else's, but it is forbidden for you! You cannot impute evil, you cannot hold a grudge, you cannot think and prepare yourselves for a reckoning... Why? - Because you know that God has not reckoned with you by avenging your iniquities, by taking vengeance on you, but by forgiving you, by giving you mercy, by saving you - for Jesus' sake! For Jesus' sake! It was through him that he carried out the great reckoning - on your behalf! Thus says the apostle, "Do not avenge yourselves, beloved!" In English, the meaning of this word does not come out well: my beloved! It's not Paul's lovers, but God's beloved, to whom Paul says, do not avenge yourselves. As if to say: You who are beloved, who are bathed in love, who are so loved by God that he does not hold you accountable for your sins, that he forgives you, that he gives you eternal life, you can truly do this, that you do not impute evil to others, that you do not strike back, that you do not avenge yourselves. You can do it, to rise above the hurts you have received from men! Martin Luther once said, "My soul is far more joyful and uplifted than to be an enemy to anyone!" Look, you receive so much love from God that you don't have to sink to the spiritual level of your enemy! Do not strike back! Not even with your tongue! It's no good, it's not worthy of you!
But that is not enough. That's just a negative. So far, it's only about what not to do! But the Word also speaks of quite positive defenses and even offenses! It says: overcome evil with good! Yes: overcome evil with good. And first of all, in yourself. So overcome evil by turning it to your advantage. Use yourself for spiritual growth. If someone says something malicious to you, something that offends your self-esteem, something that hurts you, examine it immediately to see if there is not some truth in it. Our enemies may be holding up a distorted mirror to us, but it is in the distorted mirror, in the caricature, that one can see one's own faults magnified, emphasized, faults which one might not otherwise notice without distortion. So there is a serious benefit to be gained from a hostile remark: it probes the weak, the sensitive point in our lives. Behold, the word of evil impulse is already at our service. Someone once said, "I am very fond of my fellow men who criticize me uncharitably, for they are the unpaid overseers of my soul. They keep me on the straight and narrow. I need them. Yes: our critics, even if they criticise us in a biased or unjust way, can become God's real hammers on us, to forge us into the right shape. And indeed we all need to be shaped, because we are all Christians in the making, not finished! Let us not, therefore, resent our enemies for their otherwise hurtful remarks and behaviour, but let us take them as the shaping touch of God's hand, as God's effort to shape us through them. This is how to overcome evil with good, in myself, in my own soul.
And then let me tell you one more good, a good, a very good good, by which one can overcome the evil that is directed towards one: this good is prayer! If you are hurt, say a prayer quickly for your enemy and for yourself! It is harder to be angry with someone when you have prayed for them. If you have already asked God's blessing on him, you can no longer curse him! Prayer takes the sting out of resentment. Whenever you think of him: bathe your thoughts in prayer. A thought without prayer becomes a resentful thought! And a thought with prayer fills you with love! And love for the enemy! With the emotion of Jesus! With the beaten-faced yet ever-loving spirit of Christ! Conquer the evil in yourself with this good: prayer!
But it is still only a defence. Our Word encourages us to go on the offensive! Conquer evil not only in yourself with good, but also in the other, your enemy. For the evil in him can only be overcome by good alone. In other words, think how you can do something good to him? See also in your enemy the wretched man who secretly hungers and thirsts, and give him food and drink! "For if thou do this, thou shalt heap coals of life upon his head." As iron, metal, is melted and moulded in smouldering coals, so is the spiritual ice-clad in the good that thou, the enemy, doest to it: yea, that alone warms the frozen soul against thee, and moulds it, and tunes it from foe to friend. God has thus conquered us: with good - with Christ! Not with angry judgment, but with merciful love! So you, too, if you want to heal someone of his unfriendly, hostile behaviour: be friendly to him. Consider his challenging, insulting words and behaviour as symptoms of illness and learn that the remedy for such is not a dose of bitterness, but perhaps a flower or a piece of chocolate - some incomprehensible, unjustified, almost challenging sign of love! So overcome evil with something good! With something concrete good!
I said before that evil, like dirt, sticks, provokes further evil impulses. Well, good also sticks, spreads. I heard from a driver friend of mine that his car once broke down in a place where it was a long way from any emergency and inhabited countryside. They waited helplessly for another motorist to come along... Finally he did. He stopped. He offered to help, to tow the stranded car many kilometres to the nearest aid station. And when people I knew asked him how they could repay him for his kindness, at least let him pay for the petrol, he said, "No! No. But you should help somebody someday. Then everything will be fine!" Since then, this motorist friend of mine has taken every opportunity to help others in need. And every time they want to pay him at least for the petrol, he always says: "NO! But you will help someone someday!"... That's how good things spread! Get started, it will continue!
Not to fight back, to overcome evil with good: don't think that's foolishness, poppycock, weakness! Oh, no! That is true strength! That takes real courage. That's what it takes real courage! And that's the real victory! Because that's the only way, the only way to defeat your enemy! That's how we become greater than him! And that is the kind of man the world needs today! That's the way to heal the world!
Sometimes we feel that our world has become like a crowded room, where people are running out of air and suffocating. When the door opens and the fresh air pours in, everyone is reinvigorated! When one overcomes evil with good, it is like opening the door and letting in the invigorating, renewing air into human coexistence! Jesus is telling us today through this sermon that you too, where you live, in your family and in your work, should be a door opener, who overcomes evil with good! And don't say now that it's a pity that this sermon was not heard by your husband, or your wife, or your mother-in-law, or your landlord, or X or Y- because in this sermon God is not speaking to them, but to you! Jesus is seeking and calling those who dare to believe in his good power! Dare to believe that goodness is greater than evil! For God is good!
Amen!
Date: 7 October 1962.