Dinner With JesusSample

Most of human history has operated under the assumption that if someone harms you, you have the right to harm them back. You can hurt them, exclude them, write them off, and you don’t even have to feel guilty about it! But this passage from Paul suggests a different way, and not just because we “should,” but because of how powerful it is in ending the cycle of exclusion, revenge, and hurt. When we stop participating in the patterns of the world and stop doubling down on the patterns of “us” and “them”—who is “in” and who is “out”—we see a better way. This new way of being in the world, where we offer food, drink, and hospitality for those we consider the least worthy, has a way of making everyone come to their senses. Paul described it as heaping burning coals on the head of your enemy.

In other words, returning kindness to people who you may not consider worthy of it, opens their eyes and is painful to them. It exposes the absurdity of revenge and exclusion and perpetuating pain. In other words, practicing love and generosity to all people just might have the power to change the world—or at least our world and the people we extend kindness to whom we might consider the most undeserving.