Repay with Blessing
“Do not repay
evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with
blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a
blessing.” 1 Peter 3:9
Love defined and displayed by Jesus was
this: overcome evil with good; repay evil with blessing. It was a revolutionary idea when Jesus
introduced it and remains revolutionary to this day. The untamed and untrained human response to
evil is revenge, retaliation, and yes, more evil. Brutality meets up against brutality to see
who can “win.” When one side wins, the
other loses and so we are guaranteed another round in the battle. On and on it goes, so that indeed there is
nothing new under the sun.
The crowd gathered around Pilate yelled
out for blood, “Crucify Him!” The Roman
soldiers stripped Him, beat Him, mocked Him and watched Him suffer. His own circle of closest friends abandoned
Him. Evil was in the air. Yet Jesus did not retaliate. He loved, and in so loving, overcame evil with
good and with blessing. After His death
and burial, when it was a certainty that evil had won the day, goodness was at
work. Love was working “underground” for
three days. They couldn’t find Him and
then He appeared. Jesus was not overcome
by evil; He had overcome evil with good.
There is evil at work in the world and
the question staring at us is, how will we who follow Jesus respond to
evil? Will we be caught up in its web or
will we overcome it with good and with blessing?
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