Loving Your Enemies
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
public domain sermon
Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
Montgomery, Alabama, 17 November 1957.
I am forced to preach under something of a handicap this
morning. In fact, I had the doctor before coming to church. And he said that it
would be best for me to stay in the bed this morning. And I insisted that I
would have to come to preach. So he allowed me to come out with one
stipulation, and that is that I would not come in the pulpit until time to
preach, and that after, that I would immediately go back home and get in the
bed. So I’m going to try to follow his instructions from that point on.
I want to use as a subject from which to preach this morning
a very familiar subject, and it is familiar to you because I have preached from
this subject twice before to my knowing in this pulpit. I try to make it a,
something of a custom or tradition to preach from this passage of Scripture at
least once a year, adding new insights that I develop along the way out of new
experiences as I give these messages. Although the content is, the basic
content is the same, new insights and new experiences naturally make for new
illustrations.
So I want to turn your attention to this subject:
"Loving Your Enemies." It’s so basic to me because it is a part of my
basic philosophical and theological orientation—the whole idea of love, the
whole philosophy of love. In the fifth chapter of the gospel as recorded by
Saint Matthew, we read these very arresting words flowing from the lips of our
Lord and Master: "Ye have heard that it has been said, ‘Thou shall love
thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.’ But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them
that despitefully use you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is
in heaven."
Certainly these are great words, words lifted to cosmic
proportions. And over the centuries, many persons have argued that this is an
extremely difficult command. Many would go so far as to say that it just isn’t
possible to move out into the actual practice of this glorious command. They
would go on to say that this is just additional proof that Jesus was an
impractical idealist who never quite came down to earth. So the arguments
abound. But far from being an impractical idealist, Jesus has become the
practical realist. The words of this text glitter in our eyes with a new
urgency. Far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this command
is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, it is love
that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.
Now let me hasten to say that Jesus was very serious when he
gave this command; he wasn’t playing. He realized that it’s hard to love your
enemies. He realized that it’s difficult to love those persons who seek to
defeat you, those persons who say evil things about you. He realized that it
was painfully hard, pressingly hard. But he wasn’t playing. And we cannot
dismiss this passage as just another example of Oriental hyperbole, just a sort
of exaggeration to get over the point. This is a basic philosophy of all that
we hear coming from the lips of our Master. Because Jesus wasn’t playing;
because he was serious. We have the Christian and moral responsibility to seek
to discover the meaning of these words, and to discover how we can live out
this command, and why we should live by this command.
Now first let us deal with this question, which is the
practical question: How do you go about loving your enemies? I think the first
thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self.
And I’m sure that seems strange to you, that I start out telling you this
morning that you love your enemies by beginning with a look at self. It seems
to me that that is the first and foremost way to come to an adequate discovery
to the how of this situation.
Now, I’m aware of the fact that some people will not like
you, not because of something you have done to them, but they just won’t like
you. I’m quite aware of that. Some people aren’t going to like the way you
walk; some people aren’t going to like the way you talk. Some people aren’t going
to like you because you can do your job better than they can do theirs. Some
people aren’t going to like you because other people like you, and because
you’re popular, and because you’re well-liked, they aren’t going to like you.
Some people aren’t going to like you because your hair is a little shorter than
theirs or your hair is a little longer than theirs. Some people aren’t going to
like you because your skin is a little brighter than theirs; and others aren’t
going to like you because your skin is a little darker than theirs. So that
some people aren’t going to like you. They’re going to dislike you, not because
of something that you’ve done to them, but because of various jealous reactions
and other reactions that are so prevalent in human nature.
But after looking at these things and admitting these
things, we must face the fact that an individual might dislike us because of
something that we’ve done deep down in the past, some personality attribute
that we possess, something that we’ve done deep down in the past and we’ve
forgotten about it; but it was that something that aroused the hate response
within the individual. That is why I say, begin with yourself. There might be
something within you that arouses the tragic hate response in the other individual.
This is true in our international struggle. We look at the
struggle, the ideological struggle between communism on the one hand and
democracy on the other, and we see the struggle between America and Russia. Now
certainly, we can never give our allegiance to the Russian way of life, to the
communistic way of life, because communism is based on an ethical relativism
and a metaphysical materialism that no Christian can accept. When we look at
the methods of communism, a philosophy where somehow the end justifies the
means, we cannot accept that because we believe as Christians that the end is
pre-existent in the means. But in spite of all of the weaknesses and evils
inherent in communism, we must at the same time see the weaknesses and evils
within democracy.
Democracy is the greatest form of government to my mind that
man has ever conceived, but the weakness is that we have never touched it.
Isn’t it true that we have often taken necessities from the masses to give
luxuries to the classes? Isn’t it true that we have often in our democracy
trampled over individuals and races with the iron feet of oppression? Isn’t it
true that through our Western powers we have perpetuated colonialism and
imperialism? And all of these things must be taken under consideration as we
look at Russia. We must face the fact that the rhythmic beat of the deep
rumblings of discontent from Asia and Africa is at bottom a revolt against the
imperialism and colonialism perpetuated by Western civilization all these many
years. The success of communism in the world today is due to the failure of
democracy to live up to the noble ideals and principles inherent in its system.
And this is what Jesus means when he said: "How is it
that you can see the mote in your brother’s eye and not see the beam in your
own eye?" Or to put it in Moffatt’s translation: "How is it that you
see the splinter in your brother’s eye and fail to see the plank in your own
eye?" And this is one of the tragedies of human nature. So we begin to love
our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or
individual life by looking at ourselves.
A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love
his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and everytime you
begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there
is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the
bad points.
I’ve said to you on many occasions that each of us is
something of a schizophrenic personality. We’re split up and divided against
ourselves. And there is something of a civil war going on within all of our
lives. There is a recalcitrant South of our soul revolting against the North of
our soul. And there is this continual struggle within the very structure of
every individual life. There is something within all of us that causes us to
cry out with Ovid, the Latin poet, "I see and approve the better things of
life, but the evil things I do." There is something within all of us that
causes us to cry out with Plato that the human personality is like a charioteer
with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in different directions. There
is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Goethe,
"There is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue."
There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Apostle
Paul, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I
do."
So somehow the "isness" of our present nature is
out of harmony with the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts
us. And this simply means this: That within the best of us, there is some evil,
and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we
take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has
some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even
the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the
point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what
religion calls "the image of God," you begin to love him in spite of.
No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of
goodness that he can never sluff off. Discover the element of good in your
enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your
attention there and you will take a new attitude.
Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the
opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time
which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the
person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who
has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you
most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that
person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in
terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you
must not do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not
this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional
something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the
refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its
great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who
happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the
system.
The Greek language, as I’ve said so often before, is very
powerful at this point. It comes to our aid beautifully in giving us the real
meaning and depth of the whole philosophy of love. And I think it is quite
apropos at this point, for you see the Greek language has three words for love,
interestingly enough. It talks about love as eros. That’s one word for love.
Eros is a sort of, aesthetic love. Plato talks about it a great deal in his
dialogues, a sort of yearning of the soul for the realm of the gods. And it’s
come to us to be a sort of romantic love, though it’s a beautiful love.
Everybody has experienced eros in all of its beauty when you find some
individual that is attractive to you and that you pour out all of your like and
your love on that individual. That is eros, you see, and it’s a powerful,
beautiful love that is given to us through all of the beauty of literature; we read
about it.
Then the Greek language talks about philia, and that’s
another type of love that’s also beautiful. It is a sort of intimate affection
between personal friends. And this is the type of love that you have for those
persons that you’re friendly with, your intimate friends, or people that you
call on the telephone and you go by to have dinner with, and your roommate in
college and that type of thing. It’s a sort of reciprocal love. On this level,
you like a person because that person likes you. You love on this level,
because you are loved. You love on this level, because there’s something about
the person you love that is likeable to you. This too is a beautiful love. You
can communicate with a person; you have certain things in common; you like to
do things together. This is philia.
The Greek language comes out with another word for love. It
is the word agape. And agape is more than eros; agape is more than philia;
agape is something of the understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill for all
men. It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it’s
what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And
when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, not because they
are likeable, but because God loves them. You look at every man, and you love
him because you know God loves him. And he might be the worst person you’ve
ever seen.
And this is what Jesus means, I think, in this very passage
when he says, "Love your enemy." And it’s significant that he does
not say, "Like your enemy." Like is a sentimental something, an
affectionate something. There are a lot of people that I find it difficult to
like. I don’t like what they do to me. I don’t like what they say about me and
other people. I don’t like their attitudes. I don’t like some of the things
they’re doing. I don’t like them. But Jesus says love them. And love is greater
than like. Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you
love everybody, because God loves them. You refuse to do anything that will
defeat an individual, because you have agape in your soul. And here you come to
the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the
deed that the person does. This is what Jesus means when he says, "Love
your enemy." This is the way to do it. When the opportunity presents
itself when you can defeat your enemy, you must not do it.
Now for the few moments left, let us move from the practical
how to the theoretical why. It’s not only necessary to know how to go about
loving your enemies, but also to go down into the question of why we should
love our enemies. I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and
I think this was at the very center of Jesus’ thinking, is this: that hate for
hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit
you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see,
that goes on ad infinitum. [tapping on pulpit] It just never ends. Somewhere
somebody must have a little sense, and that’s the strong person. The strong
person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil. And
that is the tragedy of hate, that it doesn’t cut it off. It only intensifies
the existence of hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion
enough and morality enough to cut it off and inject within the very structure
of the universe that strong and powerful element of love.
I think I mentioned before that sometime ago my brother and
I were driving one evening to Chattanooga, Tennessee, from Atlanta. He was
driving the car. And for some reason the drivers were very discourteous that
night. They didn’t dim their lights; hardly any driver that passed by dimmed
his lights. And I remember very vividly, my brother A. D. looked over and in a
tone of anger said: "I know what I’m going to do. The next car that comes
along here and refuses to dim the lights, I’m going to fail to dim mine and
pour them on in all of their power." And I looked at him right quick and
said: "Oh no, don’t do that. There’d be too much light on this highway,
and it will end up in mutual destruction for all. Somebody got to have some
sense on this highway."
Somebody must have sense enough to dim the lights, and that
is the trouble, isn’t it? That as all of the civilizations of the world move up
the highway of history, so many civilizations, having looked at other
civilizations that refused to dim the lights, and they decided to refuse to dim
theirs. And Toynbee tells that out of the twenty-two civilizations that have
risen up, all but about seven have found themselves in the junkheap of
destruction. It is because civilizations fail to have sense enough to dim the lights.
And if somebody doesn’t have sense enough to turn on the dim and beautiful and
powerful lights of love in this world, the whole of our civilization will be
plunged into the abyss of destruction. And we will all end up destroyed because
nobody had any sense on the highway of history. Somewhere somebody must have
some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness
begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in
destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality
enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And
you do that by love.
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 you will begin to do
irrational things. You can’t see straight when you hate. You can’t walk
straight when you hate. You can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted.
There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled
with hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case. For the
person who hates, you can stand up and see a person and that person can be
beautiful, and you will call them ugly. For the person who hates, the beautiful
becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good
becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the true
becomes false and the false becomes true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see
right. The symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of
the personality of the hater. And this is why Jesus says hate [recording
interrupted]
. . . that you want to be integrated with yourself, and the
way to be integrated with yourself is be sure that you meet every situation of
life with an abounding love. Never hate, because it ends up in tragic, neurotic
responses. Psychologists and psychiatrists are telling us today that the more
we hate, the more we develop guilt feelings and we begin to subconsciously
repress or consciously suppress certain emotions, and they all stack up in our
subconscious selves and make for tragic, neurotic responses. And may this not
be the neuroses of many individuals as they confront life that that is an
element of hate there. And modern psychology is calling on us now to love. But
long before modern psychology came into being, the world’s greatest
psychologist who walked around the hills of Galilee told us to love. He looked
at men and said: "Love your enemies; don’t hate anybody." It’s not
enough for us to hate your friends because—to to love your friends—because when
you start hating anybody, it destroys the very center of your creative response
to life and the universe; so love everybody. Hate at any point is a cancer that
gnaws away at the very vital center of your life and your existence. It is like
eroding acid that eats away the best and the objective center of your life. So
Jesus says love, because hate destroys the hater as well as the hated.
Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says,
"Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive
power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals.
That’s why Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Because if you hate your
enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you
love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power
of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though
they’re mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this person
is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to
that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything to embarrass them. Just keep
loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in
the beginning. They react with bitterness because they’re mad because you love
them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you
a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the
power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see.
It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love
that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down
and is destructive. So love your enemies.
I think of one of the best examples of this. We all remember
the great president of this United States, Abraham Lincoln—these United States
rather. You remember when Abraham Lincoln was running for president of the
United States, there was a man who ran all around the country talking about
Lincoln. He said a lot of bad things about Lincoln, a lot of unkind things. And
sometimes he would get to the point that he would even talk about his looks,
saying, "You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the
president of the United States." He went on and on and on and went around
with that type of attitude and wrote about it. Finally, one day Abraham Lincoln
was elected president of the United States. And if you read the great biography
of Lincoln, if you read the great works about him, you will discover that as
every president comes to the point, he came to the point of having to choose a
Cabinet. And then came the time for him to choose a Secretary of War. He looked
across the nation, and decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. And
when Abraham Lincoln stood around his advisors and mentioned this fact, they
said to him: "Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton
has been saying about you? Do you know what he has done, tried to do to you? Do
you know that he has tried to defeat you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr.
Lincoln? Did you read all of those derogatory statements that he made about
you?" Abraham Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said:
"Oh yes, I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But
after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the
job."
Mr. Stanton did become Secretary of War, and a few months
later, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. And if you go to Washington, you will
discover that one of the greatest words or statements ever made by, about
Abraham Lincoln was made about this man Stanton. And as Abraham Lincoln came to
the end of his life, Stanton stood up and said: "Now he belongs to the
ages." And he made a beautiful statement concerning the character and the
stature of this man. If Abraham Lincoln had hated Stanton, if Abraham Lincoln
had answered everything Stanton said, Abraham Lincoln would have not
transformed and redeemed Stanton. Stanton would have gone to his grave hating
Lincoln, and Lincoln would have gone to his grave hating Stanton. But through
the power of love Abraham Lincoln was able to redeem Stanton.
That’s it. There is a power in love that our world has not
discovered yet. Jesus discovered it centuries ago. Mahatma Gandhi of India
discovered it a few years ago, but most men and most women never discover it.
For they believe in hitting for hitting; they believe in an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth; they believe in hating for hating; but Jesus comes to us
and says, "This isn’t the way."
And oh this morning, as I think of the fact that our world
is in transition now. Our whole world is facing a revolution. Our nation is
facing a revolution, our nation. One of the things that concerns me most is
that in the midst of the revolution of the world and the midst of the
revolution of this nation, that we will discover the meaning of Jesus’ words.
History unfortunately leaves some people oppressed and some
people oppressors. And there are three ways that individuals who are oppressed
can deal with their oppression. One of them is to rise up against their
oppressors with physical violence and corroding hatred. But oh this isn’t the
way. For the danger and the weakness of this method is its futility. Violence
creates many more social problems than it solves. And I’ve said, in so many
instances, that as the Negro, in particular, and colored peoples all over the
world struggle for freedom, if they succumb to the temptation of using violence
in their struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and
desolate night of bitterness, and our chief legacy to the future will be an
endless reign of meaningless chaos. Violence isn’t the way.
Another way is to acquiesce and to give in, to resign
yourself to the oppression. Some people do that. They discover the difficulties
of the wilderness moving into the promised land, and they would rather go back
to the despots of Egypt because it’s difficult to get in the promised land. And
so they resign themselves to the fate of oppression; they somehow acquiesce to
this thing. But that too isn’t the way because non-cooperation with evil is as
much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.
But there is another way. And that is to organize mass
non-violent resistance based on the principle of love. It seems to me that this
is the only way as our eyes look to the future. As we look out across the years
and across the generations, let us develop and move right here. We must
discover the power of love, the power, the redemptive power of love. And when
we discover that we will be able to make of this old world a new world. We will
be able to make men better. Love is the only way. Jesus discovered that.
Not only did Jesus discover it, even great military leaders
discover that. One day as Napoleon came toward the end of his career and looked
back across the years—the great Napoleon that at a very early age had all but
conquered the world. He was not stopped until he became, till he moved out to
the battle of Leipzig and then to Waterloo. But that same Napoleon one day
stood back and looked across the years, and said: "Alexander, Caesar,
Charlemagne, and I have built great empires. But upon what did they depend?
They depended upon force. But long ago Jesus started an empire that depended on
love, and even to this day millions will die for him."
Yes, I can see Jesus walking around the hills and the
valleys of Palestine. And I can see him looking out at the Roman Empire with
all of her fascinating and intricate military machinery. But in the midst of
that, I can hear him saying: "I will not use this method. Neither will I
hate the Roman Empire." [Radio Announcer:] (WRMA, Montgomery, Alabama. Due
to the fact of the delay this morning, we are going over with the sermon.)
[several words inaudible] . . . and just start marching.
And I’m proud to stand here in Dexter this morning and say
that that army is still marching. It grew up from a group of eleven or twelve
men to more than seven hundred million today. Because of the power and
influence of the personality of this Christ, he was able to split history into
a.d. and b.c. Because of his power, he was able to shake the hinges from the
gates of the Roman Empire. And all around the world this morning, we can hear
the glad echo of heaven ring:
Jesus shall reign wherever sun,
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom spreads from shore to shore,
Till moon shall wane and wax no more.
We can hear another chorus singing: "All hail the power
of Jesus name!"
We can hear another chorus singing: "Hallelujah,
hallelujah! He’s King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah, hallelujah!"
We can hear another choir singing:
In Christ there is no East or West.
In Him no North or South,
But one great Fellowship of Love
Throughout the whole wide world.
This is the only way.
And our civilization must discover that. Individuals must
discover that as they deal with other individuals. There is a little tree
planted on a little hill and on that tree hangs the most influential character
that ever came in this world. But never feel that that tree is a meaningless
drama that took place on the stages of history. Oh no, it is a telescope
through which we look out into the long vista of eternity, and see the love of
God breaking forth into time. It is an eternal reminder to a power-drunk
generation that love is the only way. It is an eternal reminder to a generation
depending on nuclear and atomic energy, a generation depending on physical
violence, that love is the only creative, redemptive, transforming power in the
universe.
So this morning, as I look into your eyes, and into the eyes
of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say
to you, "I love you. I would rather die than hate you." And I’m
foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love somewhere, men of
the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed. And then we will be in God’s
kingdom. We will be able to matriculate into the university of eternal life
because we had the power to love our enemies, to bless those persons that
cursed us, to even decide to be good to those persons who hated us, and we even
prayed for those persons who despitefully used us.
Oh God, help us in our lives and in all of our attitudes, to
work out this controlling force of love, this controlling power that can solve
every problem that we confront in all areas. Oh, we talk about politics; we
talk about the problems facing our atomic civilization. Grant that all men will
come together and discover that as we solve the crisis and solve these
problems—the international problems, the problems of atomic energy, the
problems of nuclear energy, and yes, even the race problem—let us join together
in a great fellowship of love and bow down at the feet of Jesus. Give us this
strong determination. In the name and spirit of this Christ, we pray. Amen.
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