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The teachings of Jesus have a lot to offer us in the area of hate and hate crimes. After all, he was an innocent victim of a terrible, fatal hate crime himself! Jesus was ridiculed, tortured and murdered because his religious and political belief did not match up with those of his people and the occupation government then ruling Palestine.

We know that hate crimes are a growing problem, even here in our liberal little town. Here in Santa Cruz, due to the selfless work of people like David Silva, we will soon become the first city in world officially designated as a "Hate Free Zone." Last Sunday Pastor Eden and Laura spent the day working to make this a reality as well. They got some great television coverage. If you have not yet signed one of the petitions for this ballot measure, I'd encourage you to do so this morning. We're a little over half way to the needed number of signatures now [note: The signatures were gathered and the ballot measure was adopted, making Santa Cruz the world's first "Hate Free Zone"].

But let's be honest. Passing a ballot measure, as important as that is, can't solve the real problems of hate. Hatred is an internal malady, a spiritual illness of the soul. As Jesus explained:

16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

If we would see an end of hatred and hate crimes, we must begin in our own lives, in our own hearts. We must become, in the words of the Prayer of Saint Francis, instruments of God's peace:

Lord make me an instrument of your peace

Where there is hatred,
Let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, Joy.

O Divine Master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled
As to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Perhaps someone will say, That's fine for him, but I'm no Saint Francis!

Well guess what, neither was the author of the Peace Prayer!

Saint Francis, arguably the most beloved of all the Catholic Saints, was born around 1181 and went to his heavenly reward on October 3rd, 1226. The Peace Prayer didn't show up until around 1915 however!

According to Franciscan Father Kajetan Esser, the author of the critical edition of St. Francis' Writings, the Peace Prayer of St. Francis is definitely not one of the writings of St. Francis. I mention this because it written by some unnamed person who had been inspired by the Saint and who, through this inspiration, gave this wonderful contemplative gift to us all.

So allow the past and present saints of God to inspire you, and know that we are all saints of the living God; allow the Holy Scriptures to motivate you and then, through the Holy Spirit, make this world a better place. You can do it! We all can do it with God's help and the support of one another.

The teachings of Jesus can help us accomplish this.

"Thou shalt hate thy neighbor who differs from thee. Thou shalt beat upon him with a vengeance and furious anger. Thou shalt take away his job, his children, thou shalt burn his places of worship and, if thy neighbor repenteth not of his diversity, verily shalt thou take away his life" - From the book of Neo-Puritanism chapter 6 verse 66.

There is no Book of Neo-Puritanism of course. But the ideas expressed certainly do exist! Violence and hate crimes against those who are "different" are seemingly a religious occupation with many people, even to many Christians!

We sometimes want to "Do unto others before they do unto us." We are paranoid, afraid of what we don't understand and so we sometimes lash out. Sometimes when we feel insecure about who we are as individuals we "Do unto others as we think we deserve to have done unto us." By making someone else look "lower" we assume that we look "higher" by contrast. Sometimes we do this with cute little phrases like "There but for the grace of God go I" or one of my favorites, "I hate the sin, but I love the sinner!" Smug little phrases meant to elevate us in the esteem of others, and ourselves. Since I am better than you are, I must be OK! What nonsense!

Yes, hatred exists everywhere. It has always existed and it always will until the coming of Messiah. That's the just the sad truth of the matter. It's a fact of life. However, hatred need not rule our lives nor must we react in kind when it comes our way. That hatred exists is unavoidable and not all the pithy aphorisms in the world will make it go away or justify it. How we deal with it however is very much up to us.

Do we incorporate it into our lives? Do we return tit for tat? Do we allow it to fester in our souls, building resentment, fear and continuing the endless cycles of hate?

We can learn a lot from this homeless, financially destitute, Jewish son of an unmarried woman from a backwater town in an occupied third world country!

Scripture says at Acts 17:26:

"From one person God made every nation of people, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and God determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."

We are all sisters and brothers, children in the one human family.

Someone might argue, "Yes, but we are not all alike and we have to watch out for "them!" "They" are not like "us." "We're" the good guys!

My dear Lord, how boring life would be without diversity! Yet "different" does not mean "dangerous!" Salt and pepper compliment each other! Night and day follow each other; high and low define each other. So too with the human family, our diversity gives us many flavors and alternatives. It makes us unique and interesting.

Genesis 1:31 tells us that after the creation of the earth's vast diversity, "God saw all that He had been made, and declared it was very good."

God considered the diversity to be "Very Good!" Did you hear this? God finds diversity to be a very thing good thing! That's why there are so many types of flowers... and people.

And yet when we encounter diversity we sometimes think it is not so good, it is different... Some even say that diversity is evil, a violation of the orderliness of life! We should all be just alike they believe! All believing the exact same doctrines, attending the same sort of churches... They prefer predictability, uniformity. People sometimes feel safer, more comfortable with people like themselves. To try and maintain this comfort zone of monotonous predictability, some people feel it's OK to exclude others, to condemn them, even at times to kill others. Sometimes they even invoke God as their justification for jihad, holy war... or gay bashing!

However Jesus taught at Matthew 5:38-48:

"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. God causes the 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 and sisters, what are you doing more than others? Do not even unchurched do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This celebration of diversity had always been the Hebrew ideal, as we read at places like Leviticus 19:18:

"You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."

Someone will say, "Yeah, but my neighbor is ____ (fill in the blank). But you see, Jesus instructs us to love everyone, including the fill-in-the-blank people. The harder it is to love them, the more unlovable the person is, the more difficult it is for us, and the greater our reward is with God when we show Christian love to them! This doesn't mean we have to condone their behavior etc. but we must truly love them, seeing in them the veiled presence of Christ. Besides, to someone you are a "Fill-in-the-blank" person yourself! Someone out there doesn't like fat people, skinny people, white people, black people, Hindu people, Jewish people, Christian people, plumbers, lawyers... you get the idea. Don't think you're the only one with prejudices!

For some people it is quite natural to show love for persons of African decent, but difficult to show love for Caucasians. Someone might find it easy to love homosexuals but be repulsed by the idea of showing love toward heterosexuals, towards "breeders", they might say condescendingly. Guess who you need to love!!! Love your "Fill in the Blank" people! first!

Matthew 5:

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Someone may object, "But THEY, those "Fill-in-the-Blank" people, are not my neighbors!"

But what does Jesus say? Luke 10:25-37:

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" Jesus replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In reply Jesus said: "A person was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan [insert the name of your "Fill-in-the-Blank People here!], as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. `Look after him,' he said, `and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Who is my neighbor? Who is your neighbor? Everyone! No exceptions!

Don't be like the religious hypocrites in this story. The priest who passed by the person is like unto the neo-Puritans of our own time. They see their "others" as "unclean," "impure," as "social outcasts," and based upon this they exclude them and seek to deny their rights. Likewise the "Levite" who passed by is like the current crop of Bible thumpers. They find some unrelated statement in the Bible, ignore the context, and use it to justify discrimination and exclusion.

If you can hear this, we even have to love these fill-in-the-blank people!

You see, the model for we followers of Jesus is "Do unto others as we would have them do unto us." If I were a "Fill-in-the-Blank" how would I want to be treated? With love and respect. If among the many "blanks" that apply to me is a category of "unsaved," then I would want to be shown the truth of God in love...IN LOVE. I'd want to know that Jesus died for me, that he loves me and accepts me just as I am. Were I a homosexual, an African, a Caucasian, an Asian or whatever, I'd want to be shown respect and be allowed to live my life without prejudice and bigotry. I'd want the same rights as my fellow citizens, the right to love, to marry...

The heart of God's will for us is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our strength and with all our minds; and also to Love our fill-in-the-blank neighbors as we love our friends, as we love ourselves... better than we love ourselves.

Someone will say, OK, so as a follower of Jesus I'm supposed to love everyone. I can accept that. After all, I'm not the one doing the hate crimes! What about them? I hate people like them! Why, I'd like to ...

Jesus has wisdom to share here as well! Back to Matthew 5:38-48:

"You have heard that it was said, `An Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'
But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
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 children of your Father in heaven. God causes the 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 and sisters, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the unchurched do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Now, perhaps someone will object that such extreme pacifism won't work today. Mahatma Gandhi in India proved to the world that it still works! The existence of the sovereign nation of India is proof positive. Martin Luther King Jr. showed it still works. It's not easy, but there is power in peace!

But what about the Shoah? The Holocaust? Even though there was some resistance, the vast majority did not resist and look what happened to them!

It isn't easy to love and like Gandhi, we must be active in our love. We must oppose evil and corruption with peace and with the legal means at our disposal. We can write letters do sit in and marches, but sometimes the blood of martyrs are still required:

17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

Traditionally the path of Christian faith has not been an easy one. For those who stand up and decry religious and political injustices the possibility of persecution is always there, but the servant is not great than the master. As the New World Order of the coming Antichrist continues to establish itself there will be martyrs. We should be preparing ourselves for this by solidifying our faith and determination. There are difficult days ahead my friends.

It is essential that we understand what God meant in his various instructions. Some Christians have this habit of finding one Scripture and basing an entire belief system on it. If we as followers of Jesus wish to live well-balanced Christian lives, we must "rightly divide the Word of Truth." We must contrast Scripture with Scripture in order to understand its wisdom. The entire Bible, not the just the New Testament, not just individual verses we might have a fondness for like John 3:16 and 17, must be understood as a complete whole. It's essential that we invest the time to read and study our Bibles. Ignorance breeds contempt and biblical ignorance breeds a lack of faith and godly qualities.

So, is Jesus saying here that we must be "doormats" to anyone who would abuse us? Absolutely not, any more than Gandhi's followers in India were saying that. They were incredibly courageous in their non-violent disobedience to British tyranny. We beheld the same courage in many of the followers of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As Believers, we are to stand firm in our resistance to evil, always with non-violence, always with love, even as we place our trust in Jesus and willingly accept the consequences.

The command of scripture, at I Peter 5:7-10 is:

Cast all your anxiety on the Lord because He cares for you.
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist the evil one, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Jesus did this. You will recall the woman who was taken in the act of adultery. The people of the town wanted to stone her, as the Levitical Law instructed. These people were scripturally correct! The Torah demanded she be stoned. Yet Jesus intervened and the woman was spared. But notice how he intervened. Jesus used reason and the power of conviction: "Whoever among you is without sin, must cast the first stone!" he charged. At other times, he used Scripture to intervene and stand up for the truth. But intervene he did, resist he did! He did not remain silent in the face of evil.

Jesus did not sit idly by as injustices occurred. In the same way, we as his followers need to speak out against hate, against anti-Semitism, against racism, against homophobia, against ageism, against euthanasia, against infanticide, against uncontrolled nationalism and war, against corporate economic rape and so on. We must do this in love to be sure, but as organs within the Body of Christ, we must speak out on matters of injustice and hatred.

What would drive a person to commit a hate crime? Why would a person choose to use terror against another person? Fear? Yes. Ignorance? Certainly. At the heart of it, however hate crimes share a common cause and have a common solution. Hate crimes are done by people who neither know nor love the sacred heart of Jesus. Sometimes hate crimes are done by people who call themselves Christian! While we can't judge anther's salvation, we can certainly say that hate is not a Christian virtue and that those who think it is need to draw nearer to Jesus in prayer and Bible study! They also need to become personally acquainted with their "Fill-in-the-Blank" people in order to realize that it's just us. The human race is one big family. There are no "others," there are just us.

On Wednesday, September 22, [1999] at 6:30 pm, here at Louden Nelson Center, our Grace Inclusive Church is thrilled to present another Interfaith Dialog with my dear friend Reverend Faith Feldman. Faith is a Jewish woman and an ordained minister of the Interfaith Seminaries. Her grandparents died in the Holocaust. Her father, Alex Feldman, is a camp survivor who was interviewed by Steven Spielburg's Shoah project. Faith will be sharing her father's Shoah tape and stressing the importance of minority groups standing together in opposition to hate and prejudice.

As Christians, as we develop our loving relationship with God our prejudices will gradually be absorbed into the ocean of God's limitless love. As this happens, the love of Jesus will naturally flow more and more clearly through our lives and impact those around us. As we determine to ask the question, "What would Jesus do," and then to do that as best we can, we gradually become more Christ-like, which is what the word "Christian" means. As we more and more devote ourselves to Bible study, prayer and good works, we become more "Christian" and more truly followers of Jesus. As this happens, our inner hatreds, fears and prejudices are gradually replaced with that peace that passes all understanding.

As our sometimes misguided Christian sisters and brothers see the good fruits of Christ's love manifested in our lives, they will gradually come to realize that God is in our midst and their prejudices will gradually fade away. I've seen this so clearly as of late as people who were convinced God rejects this or that group have been forced to reconsider their views. We are indeed to resist evil, but we are to do so with love and respect.

So here is the solution:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up - John 3:14
Peace, Love, and Light!