My Enemy

Seeing and embracing the enemy within

1 Kings 21: 17-21

After the death of Naboth the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite: “Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be in the vineyard of Naboth, of which he has come to take possession. This is what you shall tell him, ‘The LORD says: After murdering, do you also take possession? For this, the LORD says: In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.’” Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?” “Yes,” he answered. “Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the LORD’s sight, I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel.

             The Buddhists have some wonderful maxims that are surprisingly true. One particularly shocking saying states: “My enemy, my teacher.”  That’s surprising because we don’t normally expect our enemy to teach us anything we just want to defeat him or her.  Right?  We don’t particularly want to learn anything from the Alabama Crimson Tide, we just want to crush them into powder!  But if we’re wise, we’ll learn something when we lose to them and become a better football team.  Have the Republicans learned anything from the Democrats in the last two elections?  If the Democrats haven’t become their “teachers,” the Republicans may lose the next election as well.  This is not the same as the American proverb, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”  This is not about everyone becoming the same.  You see, my enemy doesn’t teach me how to become more like HIM, he teaches me how to become more like MYSELF.

             In the first reading today we see a showdown between two “enemies,” between King Ahab and Elijah.  When they meet King Ahab says arrogantly, “Have you found me out, my enemy?”  Now, if you’ve been following carefully the daily Mass readings you’ll be surprised to hear Ahab talk like that because Elijah was a close friend and trusted ally, but now Ahab declares him to be his enemy.  Was Elijah really his enemy?  Well, in a sense, yes he was because he stood in the way of what Ahab wanted, like the Crimson Tide stand in our way to an SEC championship.  But because Ahab hated his enemy (instead of embrace him as his teacher), he failed to see his own sins and stupidity; he learned little from Elijah.  When Ahab met Elijah, he should have greeted him by saying, “My enemy, my teacher.”

             Take a moment to think of someone you would consider your enemy.  Maybe it’s a rival company, like Coke and Pepsi.  It could be a political foe you face and the candidate of the other party is your sworn enemy.  Sadly sometimes, it’s a family member, a sibling, an ex-husband or ex-wife we see as the enemy.  It could be a co-worker or a classmate.  Sometimes we may see the influx of Hispanics into our parish as our enemies who must be stopped.  Or maybe it’s all the crazy Indian priests who have invaded our fair state!  The people who drive in Fort Smith are my greatest enemies.  Some people see God as their ultimate opponent and only want to grind him into powder, like the German philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche, who declared, “God is dead.”  If we take this tack, we will learn little about ourselves and only grow more bitter and egotistical like King Ahab.  I think all our so-called enemies will ultimately teach us only one thing: our greatest enemy is ourselves.  Like that old saying, “He is his own worst enemy.”  Maybe that’s why Jesus says in the gospel, “Love your enemy as yourself.”

             Do you know what we do at the end of our softball games?  It’s the hardest part of the whole game.  We form a line while the opposing team does the same, and then we walk by and give each other high fives, and say, “Good game.”  We try to smile and mean it, too.  I think from now on, I’ll start saying, “My enemy, my teacher.”

             Praised be Jesus Christ!