Christians around the world will soon be celebrating Easter when they will remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The trial and condemnation of Jesus was a great injustice. False charges were brought against him by the religious leaders, who were jealous of his popularity, and Pilate, the Roman Governor, gave way to the will of the crowd who cried, “Crucify him!” Yet, as he was being crucified, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Jesus was exemplifying his own teaching about loving our enemies. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour 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. 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? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

This teaching of Jesus speaks powerfully into our world today when many people, including powerful secular and religious leaders, are proclaiming the apparent virtue of retaliation. If their enemies attack them, they commit themselves to striking back even more forcefully. This leads to a potentially endless cycle of violence and teaches the younger generation that it is right to hate people whose nationality or religion is different from theirs.

A friend of mine visited Christian friends in India. One day he was being driven by a Christian through a very poor district where there were many people along the roadside. The people of that community were Dalits, the “untouchables”, the lowest Hindu caste. It was very hot and my friend was half asleep in the back seat of the car when suddenly there was a loud bang. The driver told my friend that a young boy had run out in front of the car and had been knocked over. He told my friend to get into a taxi immediately which would take him back to where he was staying. This was because that society believed in “payback” and he was afraid that he and my friend might be attacked.

The driver picked up the boy, who had learning difficulties, and carried him to a first aid post where, sadly, the boy died. When the boy’s family arrived, the father asked the driver whose blood was on his shirt. He replied that after the accident he had carried the man’s son to the first aid post. The father said, “No-one has ever touched my son, you must have really loved him if you picked him up and carried him here.” There was no “payback” that day.