Thursday 13 February 2025

Psalm 73:15-28

Background
This week we are reading Jesus' teaching known as the Sermon on the Mount, which includes today's reflection on how to love our enemies.

During the second world war British prisoners of war learned that loving their enemies was as difficult as surviving the Japanese brutality and starvation diet. It could take many years to come to a point of loving.

The Railway Man is a true story that was made into a film. It concerns Eric Lomax, a railway enthusiast who served in the Royal Air Force Signals in Japan during the second world war.  He was captured by the Japanese, sent to work on the infamous Burma Railway and was tortured by Takashi Nagase.

Later in life, Lomax was still experiencing the war, at least in his head. When we meet him in the film, he hasn’t remotely come to terms with the treatment he received from the Japanese after the fall of Singapore. There’s a mystery behind this shell of this man, a buttoned-down introvert whose whole life had been trains.

He goes to Thailand, many years later, to meet his former captor and torturer, Takashi Nagase but is unable to carry through the sentence he had decided upon in his mind and heart. Later still, Lomax returns again (around 1998) with his wife to meet Nagase again intent on retribution and revenge, but in this meeting things are different.

Lomax says to Nagase "There comes a time for hatred to cease and reconciliation to begin. I forgive you totally." The two men embrace and become close friends for the rest of their lives.  Nagase died aged 92 in 2011 and Lomax died in 2012.

Clearly the kingdom of heaven does not operate like the kingdoms of this world. How will we know when we see God’s kingdom? We will know that God must be at work when anger results in reconciliation rather than retaliation. And we will know that God's reign is present when enemies are overcome by love rather than violence.

This week's theme is 'the integrity of love'. Integrity is what happens when our lives are integrated; when who we are and what we do match. Integrity is what happens when what we believe translates into how we live. That's how we live out God's generous and unrestricted grace, mercy and love in our relationships with those around us. Jesus calls us to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Listen:
‘Lux aeterna’ set by Edward Elgar and performed by voces8.

Translation
May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord, with thy saints forever, for thou art kind. Eternal rest give to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

To Ponder:

• How can I live in love with those with whom I disagree?
• How can my living for peace make a difference: to those around me in my community and in the world?

Prayer
Giving God, help me to follow your example to love and love and love again. Help me to let go of that which denies faith; of my selfish ambitions; and of that which denies the rights of others. Lord, may I humbly bear witness to love, hope and faith. Rooted in you, may I show love even against the odds. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Andy Fyall
The Revd Andy Fyall is Chair of the Nottingham and Derby Methodist District.