Taking Revenge

Romans 12:17-21 (NIV)
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.
20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Have you noticed who the favorite “bida” (hero in English) is in Filipino movies?  It’s always the FPJ’s, the Ramon Revillas (Sr and Jr), or the Tony Falcons (for those who still remember the guy dressed in white).  Why?  Because they always take revenge, come from the bottom and fight, overcome those who abuse and misuse them.  This is why we like soap operas where the poor young girl from the province, who is mistreated by the rich matrona of the city, will eventually become successful and win the war.  And it’s not just Filipinos, I believe this is all over the world!  We have the Karate Kid, and the super hero fighting for the weak, and the Charles Bronsons, Steven Seagals, who fight the criminals who are abusing the weak and helpless.

This is why, when someone does us wrong, have you noticed that all the scenes from those movies that you watched come up in your mind and you imagine yourself doing it to your enemy!  And in your mind it feels good!  Of course we don’t end up killing or beating up someone (hopefully), but sometimes we do end up taking revenge.  If someone gossips about us, we gossip in return.  Someone curses us, we curse in return.  If someone hurts us physically, we hurt them back physically.  It seems like the right thing to do.

But is this what God would have us do?  The teaching in this passage is clear – we are not to be a people who take revenge.  It is something that should not be seen in the life of a Christian.  And yet we are surrounded by people who hurt us, who abuse us, misuse us and mistreat us.  And deep inside our hearts we want to take revenge, to hit back.  Why doesn’t God want revenge in our hearts?

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
God wants us to have the right heart.  Do not repay evil for evil.  Why?  Because when we do this we reveal what is in our heart – that we are exactly like the person who did evil to us.  If our hearts are filled with God we will do what God would do.  Did Jesus take revenge upon those who crucified Him, who spat at Him, who called Him names and insulted Him?  No.

In the same way God wants us acting out of what fills our hearts.  It should be the love, forgiveness and goodness of God that we show.  Why live in the same way that evil persons live?  We defeat the very purpose of our walk with God.,

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  Doing right is not supposed to be selective.  In other words, we don’t just do right to those who we feel deserve it, and do wrong to those who deserve wrong.  We do right always.  Why?  Because our hearts are filled with what is right, not with what is right and wrong.  Doing right is the standard of life that God wants us to have, no matter who we are doing it to.  A Christian is to do right always, because it is right, and because it pleases the Lord.

18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
We are to be Peacemakers.  This is a word that the Lord coined for His people.  Blessed are the Peacemakers, Jesus said in the Beatitudes.  That’s what we should be, those who desire and do things that cultivate peace.  When someone does us wrong, our desire must not be to make the situation worse, but to make peace.  Why?  This would be what the Lord desires.

Now God knows there are some limitations.  That’s why Paul taught “If it is possible”.  Sometimes peace is impossible to attain, because someone does not want peace.  But that someone should not be the Christian.  Paul also says “as far as it depends on you”.  Peace should always be initiated by us.

19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.
We are not to take matters into our own hands.  A Christian is someone who is totally dependent on God for everything, in every situation.  The thing is, when someone hurts us, we usually want to take matters into our own hands, and plan the fate of the one who hurt us!  But this is not for us.

When we take revenge we do things our own way.  When we trust in God we allow Him to take revenge for us.  Think about what Paul said “leave room for God’s wrath”.  Oh our wrath may be bad, but God’s wrath will be worse!  And it’s not about hurting the person, it’s really in just entrusting the whole situation to the hand of God.  How He will take revenge for you is up to God, we are just here to trust Him.

20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

As Christians we are not to allow ourselves to be overcome by evil, and in the end do evil ourselves.  We are to overcome evil with good.  This is why the Lord’s teaching is if our enemy is hungry, feed him!  If he is thirsty give him drink.  Don’t just enjoy and watch them suffer!  Help them.  Do what is right, what is good.

A Christians response to evil is good.  And this can only happen when Christ has control of our hearts, when He has filled our hearts with His love.  When we respond with good, with love, the other person is affected.

I have seen two interpretations so far of the heaping of burning coals.  One is that this represents kind deeds.  When an evil person needs coal, which was important then for cooking, the Christian heaps it on his head, so he can take it home.  Of course the coal is not on his head, but on a tray or something that carries it!

The other interpretation is most probably this was taken from an ancient Egyptian practice where the person who realized his wrong walks around their village with a tray of burning coals.  This was his way of saying “I have realized my mistake”.

When we overcome evil with good, hopefully this is what happens to the one who does evil to us.  They eventually realize that they did wrong, and ask forgiveness.

But, of course, there are those who will never apologize, and will remain our enemies.  Fine.  At least we know that the good that we did was pleasing to the Lord.  For we live for the Lord, not for the appreciation of men, whether they be our friend or enemy.