Reflections on the priority of belonging

Currents in Theology and Mission, August, 2004 by Mark Thomsen

This affirmation of the priority of belonging leads to two of the most radical theological formulations within the Christian tradition, namely, the call to love the enemy and the justification of the sinner. It is noteworthy that the members of the Jesus Seminar, whose historical skepticism is remarkable, almost unanimously agreed that the words "Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you" are from Jesus. The criterion of dissimilarity, something foreign to both the world in which Jesus was born and to the world in which the Jesus movement moved, signified that these words are the words of Jesus.

What makes these words so radical? That they announce that everyone belongs! Human community is divided in innumerable ways: male and female, Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, white and black, Palestinians and Israelis. However, the primary divide is between those who are friends or fellow citizens and those who are despised and hated--enemies who in turn despise you and desire your suffering and death. Love of enemy transcends the gaping divide between those who belong and those hated ones who never will. Love of enemy profoundly asserts that absolutely everyone belongs, everyone is loved and cared about.

The gospel grounds this love that transcends the friend/enemy chasm, the love of God made flesh in Jesus. We encounter chasm-bridging care in Jesus when he weeps over the city that will crucify him, when he hangs in the darkness and the terror of death and says "Father, forgive them." After being raised he encountered the disciples who had denied and betrayed him with the haunting words "Peace; as the Father sent me so I send you." Jesus in Matthew finds chasm-bridging love within the very heart of creation. For verification of loving the enemy Jesus did not point to the law or the prophets but to the sun and rain, which gracefully pour down on both the just and the unjust (Mt 5:45). Jesus pointed to the creator who loved with perfection.

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Love of enemy is the message of the miraculous book of Jonah. Called to preach to the eighth-century B.C.E. Assyrian terrorists, Jonah took flight to the west, beyond the arm of Assyria or God. Was he frightened by terrorists? No. He was terrorized by the grace of God! This becomes the climax of the Book of Jonah when, trapped in the jaws of death, the prophet reconsiders his calling and goes to preach in Nineveh. As he had suspected, the Ninevites turn to God, and God graciously forgives them. God's forgiveness becomes a reality despite Jonah's protests of the stupidity of grace for the enemy! The divine voice replies, "Are there not 120,000 people in Nineveh who do not know their left hand from the right?" and Jonah, "are there not precious animals there?" Over the prophet's protests of a disgusting grace, the Book of Jonah preaches "Everyone counts; everyone belongs." The human family is incomplete if anyone is left out or cut out.

In the words of Professor Duane Priebe, "If you draw a line between those who are 'in' and those who are 'out,' Jesus is always on the other side of the line." In the world of contemporary global politics, that also holds true with regard to the "axis of evil." In God's world and God's family everyone belongs.