Pray for whom?

I’m reading What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey (link in sidebar). It was sitting on S’s bookshelf since he had read it with his Wednesday morning group, so I borrowed it. I’m about halfway through, and I would definitely recommend this book.

Reading it today, I had one of those “Ah hah; why didn’t I ever think of that” moments. Consider this scripture:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

That’s very difficult to do. I have a feeling that sometimes, when we do it, we are motivated by the desire to have our “enemy” not be an enemy anymore. For example, if someone is an enemy at work, I might pray for that person’s heart to be changed, so that he is no longer my enemy (and thus my life will be made happier). It is a motivation for prayer (and that can’t be bad) but it is a rather self-centered motivation.

Yancey quotes Dietrick Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was persecuted under Nazi Germany (so his enemy was horrible – much more horrific than anything I have ever faced). He wrote:

Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God. Jesus does not promise that when we bless our enemies and do good to them they will not despitefully use and persecute us. They certainly will. But not even that can hurt or overcome us, so long as we pray for them…We are doing vicariously for them what they cannot do for themselves.

Wow. Several things jumped out at me:

1. “We go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God” – Yancey makes the point that this kind of act is extraordinary – unnatural – undeserved – unmerited – unfair. It is also extremely difficult. But, and here’s the catch – doesn’t it ring true? Doesn’t it sound like what Christ was talking about?
2. We are not promised that by praying for our enemy, we will then be treated better by that enemy. Sometimes I think that we pray awhile for our enemy, the enemy does not change his treatment of us, so we give up. If we agree with Bonhoeffer, then we shouldn’t be praying for our own selfish motives, but instead we should pray for our enemies for the benefit of the enemy, and because it is what God commands. We do this all the time for our friends. When someone is ill, we pray for healing. We pray for the benefit of the one who is sick. It is certainly more of a challenge to do it for an enemy (to say the least). Actually, Bonhoeffer says that the enemy will continue to “despitefully use and persecute us.” He says it is a certainty.
3. “We are doing vicariously for them what they cannot do for themselves” We are praying for our enemy because we are called to love our enemies. The prayer is to be an act of love, substituting our voice for the one who is unable or unwilling to pray for himself. We are saying to God, “This person will not come before you, or will not pray this particular prayer, so I come to you to pray it for him.” We are doing it not in spite of being persecuted, but as a response to the persecution. The prayer may not make the persecution stop, and if it does not, then the need for the prayer is intensified.

Yancey tells a story of an incident in Northern Ireland. A bomb went off in Belfast, burying many people in the rubble, including a man named Gordon Wilson and his 20-year-old daughter. She died. “Speaking from his hospital bed, Wilson said, ‘I have lost my daughter, but I bear no grudge. Bitter talk is not going to bring Marie Wilson back to life. I shall pray, tonight and every night, that God will forgive them’”

It’s a good thing that faith is a journey, and that God is patient enough to travel it with us. I am not sure at all that I would be able to pray for an enemy in this manner. I guess that’s the point, though, isn’t it? We can’t, but with God’s grace, there is hope that we can. Gordon Wilson was able to do so.

Images: Pansies at Chili's this evening (Don't fajitas and margaritas sound like a good Friday evening?) I should have mentioned yesterday that the newspaper clipping tool (read "toy) can be found at this site.