117th Edition
Lessons from history
Settled into retirement, I usually spend a few hours each day reading. I’ve found that it is more enjoyable to read two books at the same time. I recently finished two very different books – “The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer” and “Nancy Wake – The White Mouse,” the autobiography of Australia’s wartime legend (in WWII). As I finished both books, I happened to read an article in the Wall Street Journal by Mark Helprin – “A Good Republic is Hard to Keep.”
The main points in these two disparate books, combined with Helprin’s thought-provoking essay, seemed to converge in my mind, like three winding roads that somehow led to the same town. Let me try to explain…
The Bonhoeffer book is comprised of his sermons given between 1928 to 1939. Many took place in Berlin during the ominous rise of evil forces and seeds of hatred that would culminate in the tyranny of Nazism and the horrors of the Second World War. In one of his last sermons recorded in the book, in 1938, Bonhoeffer is inspired by Romans 12:20 – “…If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.” Bonhoeffer goes on to write – “Do not claim to be wise – that is, you may be very smart and competent people in your business, at your work, but there is one thing that by nature you do not know anything about at all. There is one aspect where you are unwise and foolish as an underage child – namely, in the divine things of mercy or, much more, in how an enemy turns into a friend, how an enemy of God is overcome.” Bonhoeffer sensed the dark cloud that was about to descend on Germany and eventually all of Europe. He knew that loving our enemies was going to take on a completely new meaning.
Nancy Wake was born in New Zealand in 1912. She came to Paris in the 1930s and eventually worked with the Special Operations Executive to help thousands of allied POWs and downed airmen reach safety. She became one of the most highly decorated women serving in WWII. Her remarkable story highlights the incredible bravery of so many people – civilians, partisans, military officers and personnel, many whom died tragic but heroic deaths in the fight for freedom. Her journey also included heartbreaking stories of savage cruelty and senseless brutality.
How does anyone find the courage to love an enemy at a time like that?
Mark Helprin begins his recent essay by recalling the famous words uttered by Benjamin Franklin after exiting the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Franklin was asked, “Well, doctor, what have we got?” Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Helprin astutely points out that the threat to our constitutional order seems to be rising. He faults both the Left and the Right in this disconcerting trend. To those on either side, the views, ideologies, and behaviors of the other side are seen as existential threats. Naturally, that mentality shapes how we interact with our enemies.
How does anyone find the courage to love an enemy at a time like this?
It isn’t something we do particularly well, is it? What Bonhoeffer tried to explain in his sermon was that we have absolutely no chance of doing this well without God’s help. Repaying evil with evil only makes us evil. He goes on to explain that we are faced with the realization that God loves our enemies as much as he loves us. Therefore, loving our enemy actually brings us closer to God. Simple formula, just very difficult to do, and impossible to do without leaning into God and harnessing the Power of the Holy Spirit.
When the Nazis persecuted the church and made Hitler their God, bad things happened. Really bad things. That is a lesson we should never forget.
Today, in the soundbites, ideologies, and actions of either side, do you see the mercy and grace that emanates from our Heavenly Father? As we listen to their rhetoric and observe the actions of the leaders we favor, are their words and deeds spirit-filled? When we respond to and interact with the other side, do we demonstrate and share mercy and grace?
Will our republic survive the current tests? Left to our own devices I have my doubts. Realizing we aren’t in this alone would make me more hopeful.
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Michael Kayes
*These views are my personal opinions and are not the viewpoints of any company or organization.