This Is My Commandment

By Robin G. Jordan

A development that is going to affect not only Coptic Christians but also all Christians, including the world Anglican community is unfolding in Egypt. The country has been torn by demonstrations and riots for several days. Opposition leaders are demanding the resignation of Egyptian President and strongman Hosni Mubarak. There is a very strong likelihood that the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood may gain power and establish a radical Islamist regime in Egypt. The peace treaty between Egypt and Israel is not only threatened but so is the whole balance of power in the Mid-East.

The collapse of a number of governments in the area and their replacement by radical or more radical Islamist regimes would have an impact both in and outside of the Mid-East. We can certainly anticipate an intensification of the persecution of Christians in the area. We can also expect an increase in the persecution of Christians throughout the world, particularly in Muslim countries. The world Anglican community will not be unaffected by such an increase of persecution.

We are facing a time when Christians will need to support each other instead of squabbling with each other. I do not think that we can turn our backs on other Christians simply because they are of a different tradition from us. We do have our divisions and they are serious divisions. Radical Islam, however, has no qualms at attacking fellow Muslims and women and children. To radical Islam our divisions make no difference. We are in the eyes of radical Islam the same. We all are Christians.

Radical Islam does not care if we do not light candles before icons of the Virgin Mary. Radical Islam does not care if we do not burn incense in our worship services. Copt, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic—to radical Islam we all are infidels. We all are idolaters. We all deserve to burn in hell.

Radical Islam will not spare those who say that the persecution of Copts in Egypt and the persecution of Roman Catholics in Pakistan is not their affair. We are not that kind of Christian—if they can be considered Christians at all. Radical Islam makes no such distinctions. Radical Islam is waging war on Christianity. Radical Islam is waging war on all of us!

The realization that we all are in the same boat together should temper our attitude toward each other. While the Scriptures may warn us against keeping company with a straying brother, they do not give us liberty to despise or hate him. They do not permit us to ignore his plight, to give him no aid, or to offer no prayers for him. If our Lord commends a Samaritan for helping a Jew and told his listeners to do likewise (Luke 10:33-37), the fact that another Christian may error in his beliefs and practices is no cause for enmity. It is not the Holy Spirit that is prompting us to despise or hate him but our own evil hearts.

We cannot take an attitude of indifference toward the errors of others. But at the same time we cannot use their errors as an excuse to revile them. We are to admonish them as a brother (2 Thessalonians 3:15). Pouring scorn upon them is not admonishing them. They may have fallen into error. We are falling into sin. Error does no justify sin.

What I encounter over and over again on the Internet is the assumption is that where there is disagreement and one or both parties believe that they are right and others agree that they are right or they otherwise have good cause to be convinced of the rightness of their position, they may freely entertain strong dislike for the other party or parties and harbor resentment against them. They may hold a grudge against them and bear them ill will. They may not only desire to do them harm but actively seek to cause them injury. The prophet Mohammad may have taught this to his followers. Radical Islamists certainly interpret his teachings as if he did. But our Lord did not teach this to his disciples. The Gospels record what Jesus did teach:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)

Jesus sets an incredibly high standard for us. We must be as loving as God himself! Jesus further taught:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12-13)

These things I command you, that you love one another. (John 15:17)

These teachings may be numbered among Jesus’ hard sayings, not because they are hard to understand but because they go against our natural instincts to detest and loathe others, especially those whom we call enemies. They are not what we want to hear.

The Scriptures tell us that the imaginations of our hearts are evil from our youth (Genesis 8:21). The human heart is set to do evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11). Each of us follows the dictates of an evil heart (Jeremiah 11:8). The Scriptures also admonish us against planning evil against a brother (Zechariah 7:10) or thinking evil in our heart against a neighbor (Zechariah 8:17). The brother and the neighbor in these passages is not just our kin or whoever lives next door to us. These passages are tacit recognition that we do such things.

Jesus drew this to the attention of his disciples. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matthew 15:19) For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” (Mark 7:21-22) He also drew to their attention that what we say reveals the state of our heart. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

To some people loving others instead of hating or despising them is a mark of weakness. I recall a snatch of dialogue from a movie in which one character contemptuously said something to the effect, “You Christians are taught to love your enemies. We Muslims are taught to kill them.” The character in the movie thought that Christians were weaklings due to Jesus’ teachings. Islam was the stronger of the two faiths. In any contest between Islam and Christianity, Islam would be the victor. Muslims were not taught to show pity and spare any one in their jihad against infidels.

But to my mind it takes a truly strong person to bridle his impulses rather than give rein to them. Whoever is not master of himself is not master of anyone. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, in other words, self-mastery. We become masters of our selves and not slaves to our passions. We cease from running to do the bidding of every evil thought that enters our minds. We do not cater to every whim of an evil heart. We do not jump to obey each time sin crooks a little finger.

The way of the disciple is not an easy road. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34). In Roman times a cross marked the one carrying it as dead man on the way to the place of execution. He was bearing the instrument of his death by slow and painful suffocation.

The way of the cross is not the way of the world. It is not the way of self-indulgence. We have in shouldering the cross declared ourselves dead to this world, dead to its spitefulness and wrangling. We have put our hands to the plough and now must drive the furrow (Luke 9:62).

Jesus’ saying is lost on those who have never lived on a farm, never seen a horse plough, and never seen a farm worker with a team of horses ploughing a field. Once you start ploughing, you cannot stop until you have ploughed the field. The ploughman and the plough horses labor from dawn to dusk until the task is done.

The way of the disciple is the way of single mindedness. There is only one thought—to walk as Jesus would have us walk. It is not enough to just accept him as our Savior but we must truly follow him as our Lord. We must not only come to him and hear his sayings but we also must do them. We must dig deep and lay our foundation upon the rock (Luke 6:46-49).