Vignettes of Hope: New Zeal by Joshua Jalandoon
Reflections
There’s another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating somebody, and… Your vision is distorted… That’s what hate does. You can’t see right…Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater.
— Martin Luther King,
Loving Your Enemies sermon, delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
- Nowadays, so much passion and zeal are displayed in social media, although most are wasted and misdirected
- Saul was so certain that he was following God, doing work according to His will
- Comparing to Saul, and in a more subtle way, Ananias is also experiencing blindness
- So now [Ananias] must face a decision. Do I act on a truth about someone, a truth that may put me in danger, or do I follow the word of the Lord and touch this dangerous person? Luke does not tell us whether or not Ananias was afraid of Saul but only that he was honest with God. We must not rush past his honesty with God. He reminds God that Saul is a killer, and God in turn calls Saul his vessel who will carry the name of Jesus. God sees us differently no doubt, but the question for the disciples is, Can we see with God? Can we see those who are in rumor or truth dangerous as God sees them—with a future drenched in divine desire? — Willie Jennings
- Our sight is suffused with knowing, instead of feeling painfully the lack of knowing what we see. The principle to be kept in mind is to know what we see rather than see what we know. — Abraham Joshua Heschel
