HATE WITHOUT CAUSE by Larry W Peebles June 7, 2019 19.19
One of the political parties in America is currently promulgating hatred toward “old white men”. I am one of those men, so I choose this topic not to make a political point, but rather to make a biblical point. According to this particular political party, old white men are responsible for the country’s problems and are therefore to be hated. Old white men are said to be entirely responsible for at least half the country not agreeing with the political platform of the party making these statements. Notice it is not the politicians elected to serve in Washington who are responsible. It is not the political parties. It is not the political system of power brokers, lobbyists and campaign contributions, nor is it the promises made off the record in return for political support and favors. The problems of this country, of which there are many, are supposedly the fault of “old white men”. The media which supports this view allows the hateful talk to air freely on their networks. Someone needs to bear this blame, so “old white men” are hated and vilified. Never mind that the hate is without cause.
David wrote of this situation several times in the Bible. For background, we must understand King Saul’s actions led to his own demise. He had disobeyed God, acted without the word of the Lord from the prophet Samuel. Instead, he had consulted with a witch to get a supernatural word on how to proceed. He would lose his life and his throne, but none of this was David’s fault. God knew what would happen concerning Saul, so while David was young he was anointed as the king to take Saul’s place. David refused to take any action to move that process along more rapidly. His songs and music were initially welcomed by Saul as a soothing relief from the tormenting spirits that began to plague him. When Saul realized that the anointing from God he once had was departed, and in fact now rested upon David, he became jealous and afraid of the inevitable. When the people began to celebrate David’s military victories more than Saul’s, he attempted to kill David. To avoid a conflict, David fled. Saul chased and hounded him for eleven years. David had several opportunities to kill Saul, but each time he chose to not take the matter into his own hands. He would not even touch Saul, but rather chose to wait on God. He lived the life of a fugitive, hiding in caves and sleeping on the ground. He remained loyal to the king, and kept his faith in God. His good was initially rewarded with evil. In Psalm 35:19, he wrote- “Let them not rejoice over me who are wrongfully my enemies; nor let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause.”
In Psalm 69:4, he wrote-“Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully; though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.” The weight of being unjustly accused and pursued by the king and his soldiers is evident. There was no good reason Saul should hate and chase after David as he did. Still, David waited on God to signal his move to the throne.
Finally, in Psalm 109:3-5- “They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” We can see David’s theme remains the same. If this verse begins to sound like the case of another person in the Bible from a later time, it is because it begins to foretell of the plight of Jesus.
When we think of Jesus, we often think of His quotes concerning love. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. “Teacher, which is the great[est] commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…The second [greatest] is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:36-39. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13. Jesus taught love, and demonstrated His great love by laying down His life. He willingly went to the cross for the sins of mankind. He walked among the people, healing the sick, binding up the broken-hearted, and casting out demons. In return for the love and all that He taught and did, He received hatred. The demonic forces of the world hated Him. Evil does not like being put under a light which exposes its deeds.
Jesus told His disciples- “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you…Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19. He gave the reason in John 15:22- “If I had not come and spoken to them [about their sin], they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” The world hated Him because He loved the world enough to not leave it in its current sinful and destructive condition. He pointed out the sin, and addressed it. He did not ignore it. His love was great; the consequences of sin were also great.
John 15:25 goes on to say- “But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law ‘They hated Me [Jesus] without a cause.” Jesus spoke of a love greater than the people could grasp. It required Him to point out their sin. The sin could be forgiven. But if it was never addressed, there would be no repentance or forgiveness. Paul advises in Ephesians 4:15 that we are to “speak the truth in love.”
When Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8- “Love will cover a multitude of sins”, he was not suggesting we sweep sin under the rug, look the other way, and forget about it. To do anything other than address it is not love for one another. To make such a suggestion is simply not consistent with Jesus’ teaching, as we have seen above. Rather, he is saying that out of love we will have unlimited forgiveness for the sin, and in that sense, love will “cover” a lot of sin. Similarly, when Adam and Eve sinned, God “covered” them with animal skins. He loved them, but He judged them and dealt with their sin. He covered the sin of the whole world with the blood sacrifice of His only Son, but one day He will judge the sin in the world that has not been confessed, and forgiven with action taken toward repentance.
What is the best response to unfounded hatred? The expression of the hatred can be violent and painful. Jesus’ response to intense hatred and unbearable pain was perhaps His most loving statement in the whole of the Bible-“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34. The Roman soldiers who had beaten, scourged, mocked, tortured and crucified Jesus had “done something”. Jesus pointed out the sin of what they had done when He spoke these words on the cross. However, He asked the Father to forgive them, for they did not truly know who Jesus was. He showed the ultimate love toward those who were taking His life in the most excruciating way possible. His response was remarkable, unexpected, and full of love.
Those words had a profound effect on the soldiers. The centurion, or commander of the unit confessed “Truly this was the Son of God” after he witnessed the crucifixion and experienced the earthquake following Jesus’ death. Matthew 27:54. He was instantly transformed from executioner to believer. Ultimately the Roman Empire legally became Christian under Emperor Constantine some 280 years later, and we can only believe that the testimony of this centurion was one early seed in that process.
God’s ways are higher than the ways of man. Jesus said we should expect hatred in return for calling out the sin in our day. We are to hate the sin, not tolerate it, but show love toward the sinner. Such a response is totally unexpected, but will change the world.
