Scripture Text: 1 PETER 3: 8-12.
“An eye for an eye only ends up, making the whole world blind” This is a powerful quote of Mahatma Gandhi.
A society could become a just society, only when everything is paid in a befitting measure. The state, law and constitution ensure that, not only services and virtuous actions are to be paid, but also each and every evil should be repaid. It is one of the primary functions of the state and judiciary, to make sure that, the evildoer is repaid with a punishment, which is equally evil. In this structure, if the victim needs retaliation, the ultimate option would be another evil. This is the logic that is working out in every society.
However Christian Ethics have something else to propose. In I Peter 3: 9, we see the exhortation, “Do not repay evil for evil and abuse for abuse.”
Does it seem logical? Yes, that only makes Logic.
Evil things happen in a society, which continues to “contain evil”. If we are about to repay evil by an evil, we are going further to contain a greater evil.
We need to admit that evil could not be exterminated. But it could only be transformed. Evil as we perceive, was never been created. It is only “perverted goodness”. Goodness that got perverted gets transformed into evil. The goodness that confines to individual selves, or to the interest of particular communities, could become an evil for others. So we need to be cautious that, every goodness has a prospect to get perverted, depending on the space it works. The same gives us hope also. Even though evil could not be exterminated, it could be transformed into goodness.
Such a counter practice is named as a life of blessing in the text. What else could be a blessed life, other than the one which transforms the evil into blessing?
There are some characters in the bible who have foreseen that, their life trajectories eventually may lead them to inestimable evil. As they got engaged with this knowledge, they took a deliberate deviance from the “acceptable goodness” of their time and space. Though many civilizations and societies fall, as their goodness eventually got perverted into evil, the men and women who took this deliberate deviation became blessed, and a blessing to the society and the nation.
This deliberate deviation is what we have seen in verse 11, saying, “turn away from evil and seek peace.” Both these imperatives obligate us to choose a counter culture that demands an earnest commitment. The blessedness of Abraham must be seen in this light. Often we comprehend the blessedness of Abraham as a preferential grace of God. However we need to reassess this understanding in the light of this passage.
The innate goodness of Abraham compels him to go out of the land of Ur, into a nomadic life to preserve his goodness, without being perverted. He gives away the green pastures that he had, to his nephew, and thus once again he dismantles the prospect, that his goodness may get perverted. This earnest commitment of Abraham to preserve the innate goodness in him without being perverted, helped him to continue as a blessing for the nations.
So friends, if we are going to repay evil for an evil, we are not exterminating the evil. But rather, “we contain a greater evil.” We have the scope to transform evil into goodness, since all evil manifestations are perverted goodness. At the same time, it should be our longing, to keep the innate goodness, without being perverted.
May God help us to have these earnest commitments to lead a blessed life and to be a blessing to all. Amen
A society could become a just society, only when everything is paid in a befitting measure. The state, law and constitution ensure that, not only services and virtuous actions are to be paid, but also each and every evil should be repaid. It is one of the primary functions of the state and judiciary, to make sure that, the evildoer is repaid with a punishment, which is equally evil. In this structure, if the victim needs retaliation, the ultimate option would be another evil. This is the logic that is working out in every society.
However Christian Ethics have something else to propose. In I Peter 3: 9, we see the exhortation, “Do not repay evil for evil and abuse for abuse.”
Does it seem logical? Yes, that only makes Logic.
Evil things happen in a society, which continues to “contain evil”. If we are about to repay evil by an evil, we are going further to contain a greater evil.
We need to admit that evil could not be exterminated. But it could only be transformed. Evil as we perceive, was never been created. It is only “perverted goodness”. Goodness that got perverted gets transformed into evil. The goodness that confines to individual selves, or to the interest of particular communities, could become an evil for others. So we need to be cautious that, every goodness has a prospect to get perverted, depending on the space it works. The same gives us hope also. Even though evil could not be exterminated, it could be transformed into goodness.
Such a counter practice is named as a life of blessing in the text. What else could be a blessed life, other than the one which transforms the evil into blessing?
There are some characters in the bible who have foreseen that, their life trajectories eventually may lead them to inestimable evil. As they got engaged with this knowledge, they took a deliberate deviance from the “acceptable goodness” of their time and space. Though many civilizations and societies fall, as their goodness eventually got perverted into evil, the men and women who took this deliberate deviation became blessed, and a blessing to the society and the nation.
This deliberate deviation is what we have seen in verse 11, saying, “turn away from evil and seek peace.” Both these imperatives obligate us to choose a counter culture that demands an earnest commitment. The blessedness of Abraham must be seen in this light. Often we comprehend the blessedness of Abraham as a preferential grace of God. However we need to reassess this understanding in the light of this passage.
The innate goodness of Abraham compels him to go out of the land of Ur, into a nomadic life to preserve his goodness, without being perverted. He gives away the green pastures that he had, to his nephew, and thus once again he dismantles the prospect, that his goodness may get perverted. This earnest commitment of Abraham to preserve the innate goodness in him without being perverted, helped him to continue as a blessing for the nations.
So friends, if we are going to repay evil for an evil, we are not exterminating the evil. But rather, “we contain a greater evil.” We have the scope to transform evil into goodness, since all evil manifestations are perverted goodness. At the same time, it should be our longing, to keep the innate goodness, without being perverted.
May God help us to have these earnest commitments to lead a blessed life and to be a blessing to all. Amen
[Ajay T. Oommen, the preacher of this sermon, is a final year BD student in Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute,Chennai, India]
