Overcoming Evil With Good

Devotional Reflection, Thursday, February 8, 2024

The week of the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’c 20No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

You will find the full text of today’s epistle reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 947)

AM Psalm [83] or 146, ; PM Psalm 85, 86

Gen. 27:30-45; Rom. 12:9-21; John 8:21-32

Today we celebrate the  Feast of  Josephine M. Bakhita. (See below.)

David’s Reflections

The twentieth-century Irish poet Yeats ended one of his poems with these lines:

I am content to follow to its source

Every event in action or in thought;

Measure the lot;  forgive myself the lot!

When such as I cast out remorse

So great a sweetness flows into the breast

We must laugh and we must sing,

We are blest by everything,

Everything we look upon is blest. *

Today’s epistle invites us to follow to its source every event in action or in thought.  How do I respond to the wounding words and actions of others?  What does the energy of those wounding behaviors spark within me?  Do I find myself responding in kind in the moment?  Do I withdraw, stew inwardly, and feign kindness?  Do I turn the energy inward against myself in depressive feelings?  Do I find ways to frustrate the other person without risking confrontation?  Do I hold in the feelings of anger and malice and express them against someone else?  Does my dog suffer?  Does my computer or my car get a verbal blast?  Do I feel powerless and blame the other for my feelings?

Paul captures the core challenge in the final verse, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  That stance requires intentionality and gritty toughness of purpose.  Our basic stance gets hammered out in advance.  “I will not wound those who wound me, but I will live with emotional integrity.”  Intentionality grounds me and centers me.  It prompts me to think ahead and adopt strategies for specific people and specific situations. I have found it helpful to write out my intended response ahead of time. It helps discharge the emotional energy and makes for greater calmness in the moment of conversation.

Emotional integrity means not pretending with others.  It means not displacing my anger on third parties.  It means not denying my woundedness to myself.  It means being willing to live with mixed feelings about people for whom I care but whose behaviors routinely create friction or inner pain.  It means not allowing another to take away my dignity with anger or abuse while not responding in kind.

Does this begin to feel like a tall order?  Does it begin to feel complex?  If so, perhaps it is because this strategy for responding to evil worked against us is the strategy God has adopted in Christ.  The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus can be seen as God not being overcome by our evil but overcoming evil with good.

Ouch!  That means that intending to live this way and persisting in not wounding those who wound us will prove to be a journey into and with pain.  It will be a sharing in the Cross, a cruciform nonviolent response to evil. The intent not to wound is the intent to suffer without paying back.  Can we say with Yeats that we are blest by everything?  Yes, if we cast out remorse and let the sweetness of God’s love flow in.

We then have chosen to respond to the evil and wounding of others in the same way that God daily is responding to our own.  We then have chosen to be an ally of God’s love in the world.  We then have chosen to allow the energy of that love to transcend our own limited capacities and to enable us to live in this way.  We then have chosen “to follow to its source every event in action or in thought.”

(Note: If you are experiencing emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse in a relationship, I would urge you to seek counseling. If that validates and confirms that you are being abused, I would urge you to flee that relationship at all costs and as quickly as possible. You can do the work of processing your woundedness and of letting the other person go through forgiveness from a place of safety, realizing that forgiveness does not always mean reconciliation.)

* From “A Dialogue of Self and Soul,” The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats, second rev. ed. Edited by Richard J. Finneran (New York:  Simon & Schuster, 1996), p. 236.

Collect of the Day, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 216)

Today we celebrate the  Feast of S Josephine M. Bakhita, monastic (died 8 Feb 1947 CE).

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Bakhita.html

Collect of the Feast of Josephine M. Bakhita

O God of Love, who delivered your servant Josephine Margaret Bakhita from the bondage of slavery to the true freedom of your service; Grant to the wounded your healing grace in mind, body, and spirit and to your church the zeal to combat exploitation and slavery in all its forms; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Collect for Grace

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)

A Collect for Social Justice

Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 260)

A Collect for Early Evening

Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)

Daily Office Epistle Reading, Romans 12:9-21

9Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.a 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.b 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’c 20No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer