“Love My Enemies? Oh, C’mon Lord!”

The Word and Work, vol. CI, Feb. 2007.

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esus can enable us to do just that. Do we even want him to do so? Love our enemies?


That’s hard!

During the Protestant Reformation, it was costly to obey this command of Jesus. Facing arrest as an Anabaptist, Dirck Willems fled for his life across a frozen lake. When his pursuer broke through the ice, Willems thought that he soon would have drowned. Willems gave up his chance to escape by turning back to save his persecutor. Shortly, he was captured, imprisoned and burned at the stake in 1569.

More recently, in Cambodia back in 1975, Ta Hum was a practicing Christian there. In the village where he lived, his neighbors bribed a dishonest surveyor to change a long-established property boundary line. As a result, Ta Hum lost an acre of land.

His first reaction was, “They may get my land unfairly, but they won’t get my banana and coconut trees on the land.” So he began to cut down the trees with his machete. After cutting down several of them, he thought, “This is not what I learned in Bible class. Jesus said to turn the other cheek.” He prayed for God’s forgiveness, and returned to his home.

The next morning he went to the neighbors who were building a wall to mark the new boundary. Ta Hum told them, “You have taken my land; I’ll give you my house, too. What do I need with a house and land? I’ll move away and tell others about Jesus.”

News of what he said spread and reached the village chief, who investigated. He declared to the swindlers, “Everyone knows this land is Ta Hum’s. He planted these trees twenty years ago. I have the deed in my file. If you don’t get your wall out of here by evening I will throw you all in jail!” But Ta Hum interceded, “It’s much too much work — give them until tomorrow evening.” The neighbors lost not only the land but also the bribe money, for the surveyor had spent it.

When Christians are persecuted, the outcome is not always so favorable to them. But Ta Hum’s attitude, even before he knew how the situation would end, showed his great faith in God and his willingness to obey Him.