Love Your Enemies

As I have reflected on the disturbing events of this week in the United States and the attack by some on key principles of democracy, I was led to reread President Oaks’ talk from this most recent general conference. I was surprised at how incredibly relevant it is to our current situation. He stated that our 12^th article of faith about being subject to rulers “means that we obey the current law and use peaceful means to change it. It also means that we peacefully accept the results of elections. We will not participate in the violence threatened by those disappointed with the outcome. In a democratic society we always have the opportunity and the duty to persist peacefully until the next election.” That is indeed a timely message for us today!

                Even more important in his talk was his message of the crucial behavior we are largely lacking right now in the public square. He stated, “As followers of Christ we must forgo the anger and hatred with which political choices are debated or denounced in many settings. Here is one of our Savior’s teachings, probably well known but rarely practiced: ‘Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you’” (Matthew 5:43–44). Oh how I wish we could all learn to practice this one teaching! From the president to the protestors, from the left to the right, from senators to citizens, if we could all learn to show real love to our enemies what a difference this would make! We have to learn to offer compassion instead of animosity, peaceful discussions instead of angry diatribes, loving hands instead of hateful hearts. How can we be the disciples of the Savior if we don’t?

                We need only look to the final days of the Savior’s life to know how we should respond to hate and anger. When Peter cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest there to arrest him, He reacted this way: “And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him” (Luke 22:51). When he was taken before high priest illegally and questioned in a mock court, we read this: “One of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?” Here He was, “arrested and condemned on spurious charges,” being mocked and ridiculed—how would He respond? Instead of acting out with anger or violence or contempt, He said much more powerfully: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?” (John 18:23) Surely there are few of us who could so respond to injustice and hatred, but that’s what He expects of us. And of course, as He hung on the cross, being brutally tortured by these Roman soldiers, He responded with these unbelievable words of love: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). He showed in these final hours of His life and on countless other occasions that He lived what He preached: “Love your enemies.” Nephi’s words summarize well how He returned that love for hate: “And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men” (1 Nephi 19:9).

I love the quote that President Oaks gave from President Howard W. Hunter that should inspire us all to live more like the Savior in showing forth love: “The world in which we live would benefit greatly if men and women everywhere would exercise the pure love of Christ, which is kind, meek, and lowly. It is without envy or pride. … It seeks nothing in return. … It has no place for bigotry, hatred, or violence. … It encourages diverse people to live together in Christian love regardless of religious belief, race, nationality, financial standing, education, or culture.” As disciples of Christ surely that is how we must seek to be!