It struck me the other day: Honestly, am I thinking about Jesus as often as I’m thinking about people I don’t like?

Am I spending as much time with Jesus, with the image of Jesus, the stories of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the presence of Jesus, or of other uplifting upbuilding spiritual figures, as I am spending time preoccupied with people who make me bitter or angry or hurt or dispirited?

That’s a good question for Lent, don’t you think? That could lead to some good Lenten practices, come to think of it.

We are very impressionable creatures. We mirror and mimic each other much more than we are aware; we are deeply formed and influenced by those around us, not only in the company we keep but also into the “content” we consume and the cultures that surround us.

We may think this is only true with respect to the people we like, and the people whose influence is good for us. But it is also true with respect to the people we dislike. We are shaped by our rivals and our enemies, just as we are shaped by our friends and our allies. We become obsessed with our enemies, or at least the story we tell about them, and they get obsessed with us. Enemies get in each other’s heads, like the mirror opposite of being in love: being in hate.

Do you see how it’s true how people who are in rivalry against each other can really come to mirror each other? It’s most dramatic when things escalate into a fight. You see just how easy it is for nastiness and meanness to spread, how contagious violence can be. This is especially true and extremely dangerous in times of war.

We are now in a time of war, like it or not – because of what’s clear to me to be the unprovoked and reckless actions of our government our country is now in a time of direct and open warfare. Most of us here may be currently buffered from the horrible realities of it, but there’s no denying it. War always turns the volume up in the clashes within a society. War always raises the stakes in the divisions and reasons for strife. Division and strife have already become severe in our society, as you all are well aware. We can expect to have it get worse, I’m sorry to say. Hope and pray it doesn’t, of course.

It is a matter of soul survival that we are aware of how we are influenced by those we define ourselves against and those who define themselves against us, how our sense of “self” is formed through our sense of “other,” how we are shaped by our “enemies.”

It takes a lot to not become what we hate. For sincere followers of Jesus, this is one of our job descriptions. Some folks don’t seem to care and in fact may be gleeful in letting it all go to hell as long as they think they think they can make a buck on it or somehow end up on top, but that shouldn’t be us.

It takes self-awareness to not become what we hate, it takes a willingness to recognize our shadow-sides even when that is uncomfortable and convicting. It takes integrity, it takes humility. It takes healthy community, it takes being a part of groups that are supportive, loving, upbuilding, wise, savvy. Above all, it takes a Higher Holy Power. It does take a Higher Holy Power, like they say in addiction recovery communities – we can’t do this alone, as human beings, we need God’s help, we need God’s Grace.

It is simply part of human nature to be susceptible to getting pulled into a downward spiral with our rivalries. We do need a sacred source of wisdom and truth, a sacred source of our sense of self, that is beyond ourselves and can embrace all of ourselves, to keep ourselves from getting swept into our shadow-sides. Thank God we have someone like Jesus to help us.

In order to not become what we hate, we need to stay focused on becoming what we love. Becoming what we love rather than becoming what we hate does not mean we somehow stay on the sidelines of the rough and tumble and strife that life together can bring. When Jesus teaches, “Love your enemies”, he is assuming we’ll have enemies. But what Jesus’ teaching and example does is help us to have integrity in opposing what is evil while not becoming possessed by evil in the process.

It is a terrible and pernicious misunderstanding that Jesus tells people to be passive in the face of wrongdoing.

Jesus’ teachings about “turn the other cheek” and “give away your cloak as well” and “walk the extra mile” are very specific strategies for nonviolent defiance for the people at Jesus’ time who had very little power in fearfully oppressive circumstances. Jesus was a Galilean carpenter speaking to fellow peasants suffering under occupation by the Roman empire, who had the most fearsome military force the earth had seen up to that point.

When Jesus talks about someone getting struck specifically on the right cheek, his listeners would have known he is speaking about a servant or enslaved person getting backhanded by their superior. If this person fights back, answering evil for evil, they’re dead. If they cower and whimper in fear, they give away their dignity as a child of the Living God. By telling his followers to “turn the other cheek,” Jesus is saying, “Stand up and force them to punch you like an equal.” The master will not know how to respond. They’ll be brought up short.

This is a brilliant and courageous act of nonviolent defiance that short circuits the cycle of violence and preserves one’s dignity from the degrading methods of oppression.  Do you see? Don’t forget this.

When you look at the historical context, “give away your cloak as well” and “walk the extra mile” have similar effects. The theologian Walker Wink does a brilliant job recovering Jesus’ meanings here. “Give away your cloak as well” would in fact bring shame upon the persecutor. “Walk the extra mile” would in fact force the Roman soldier to violate their rules of engagement and get them in trouble with their superiors.

You can see in Jesus’ teaching and the teaching of the Apostle Paul a rigorous intervention against our very human susceptibility to become what we hate when we fight against what we hate. Meet a curse with a blessing. Pray for those who persecute you. (Romans 12:9-21)

This requires us to keep God in the picture. God, in whose sight everyone is a beloved and broken, even those we don’t like, even ourselves. God makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the sinners as well as the saints. Which is me? Which is us?

I’ll repeat, this is not passive, it is active. Paul says “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with love.” (Romans 12:9-21). Jesus intervened to prevent a mob from executing a persecuted woman. Jesus flipped the tables of those taking advantage of people’s piety in the temple.

When Pontius Pilot was the Roman governor of the region that included Judea and Galilee, Tiberius, the Caesar at the time, sent Pilot into Jerusalem under cover of darkness to put up images of Caesar, called standards, all around the city. When the Jewish population woke the next day and saw this, they were outraged. This violated their sacred law against graven images – Caesar is not God, as much as he’d like to pretend to be. A whole crowd went to Pilot’s house and petitioned him to remove the offensive images. He refused. They surrounded his house and would not move for five days. Finally, Pilot said he would render his verdict, in public at a stadium. When the crowd had gathered there, he had troops surround them and announced they would be cut down unless they accept Caesar’s image in their city.

According to the first century historian Josephus,

“As if by arrangement, the Jews all fell to the ground, extended their necks, and proclaimed that they were ready to be killed rather than transgress the law. Astonished by the intensity of their religious fervor, Pilot ordered the immediate remove of the standards from Jerusalem.” (quoted in “Bandits, Prophets, & Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus” by Richard Horsley, pg. 39)

A few years later, there was a new Roman emperor, Gaius Caligula. He demanded to be worshipped as a god. So, he again sent his emissary to Jerusalem to erect his image in the temple itself. Tens of thousands of Jews gathered to petition against this, and again made it clear they would rather die than allow this violation. This time the peasants throughout the countryside also refused to work. For weeks, the harvesting and economic activity stopped, halting the tributes to Rome. It was a general strike.

And it worked. The Roman emperor backed off. (Horsley, pg. 40. See also here.)

This was the kind of thing Jesus was encouraging – resisting evil without becoming evil, with total reliance on God. There is a different way. It takes courage and deep faith. I thank God for all those throughout history who have shown us the sacred way of peace.

Close to home, for me this past week, this was the opportunity I had to join the folks at our church who helped to lead this singing witness in support of the families of the folks whom immigration enforcement agents violently detained last month. You all found a beautiful and powerful way of saying “no” to impunity while saying “yes” to the antidote, defying violence without violence but with witness to the sacred source of our shared humanity and mutual neighborliness.  

May we ever have before us examples and models to lift us up, as we seek to become what we love rather than succumb to what we hate. So let’s keep turning to Jesus and returning to his way of faith in our God of all creation.

Thanks be to God.  

Delivered Sunday, March 8, 2026, by Rev. Nathaniel Mahlberg at the United Church of Christ at Valley Forge.