But you, man of God, pursue righteousness,
devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.
“Weak people seek revenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent people ignore.” This quote attributed to Albert Einstein encapsulates great wisdom. It comes as no surprise that an apparent hallmark of the present administration is revenge. We have seen a dramatic and unprecedented example of this in our past week with the ever so flimsy indictment of a former FBI Director, James Comey. While Comey’s name invariably congers up strong feelings on both sides of the political spectrum, a country that has prized itself as being one of laws where justice is blind cannot tolerate the weaponization of the judiciary for partisan purposes.
Revenge is a cancer that can easily metastasize as it widens its circle of hate and retribution ultimately destroying the soul of the avenger itself. It is for this reason that the words we read in our second lesson from Timothy are both timely and providential for this moment in which we find ourselves.
Anyone who purports to be a ‘man’ or person of God should take heed of this wise advice. Rather than seeking revenge and perpetuating the cycle of hate that characterizes so much of our world today, Christians are called with God’s grace to break this vicious cycle and say stop to its hopelessness with the values of “righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.”
Of all the pernicious comments that I’ve heard recently was that the virtue of empathy is for the weak or that it’s a ‘made up new age term.’ Such a comment betrays the very essence of the Christian message where we Christians are called to enter into the pain of our sisters and brothers just as Jesus did and continues today in the Body of Christ.
Empathy is a powerful antidote to revenge. Empathy is the graced ability to enter into the mind and heart of another as we sympathize with another’s situation, challenges and blessings.
The gospel story of poor Lazarus and the rich man is a perfect example of what happens when hardness of heart blocks the virtue of empathy and blinds us to the plight of our brothers and sisters. The rich man could not recognize or even feel the poverty of the poor man Lazarus as he feasted sumptuously. In God’s good time, there are eternal consequences for such hardness of heart and lack of empathy.
My friends, God’s word continues to be a mighty two-edged sword slicing through so much of the crescendo of malevolence and hardness of heart that we are witnessing daily. In God’s good time, there will be eternal consequences for such heartless revenge, recrimination and hatred as the common good continues to suffer.
Mary’s beautiful and exultant hymn of praise should be a sober reminder that in the end, God’s Will for humanity will always have the last say:
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
And has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich he has sent away empty.