2025 will go down as the year I fell in love with the writings of the Desert Fathers. I have been deeply moved by the words of these hermits — a word transliterated to us from the Greek eremites, literally “the desert ones.” These monastics retreated to the wilderness seeking deeper communion with God and their sayings instruct and inspire me in the way of solitude and silence.
As monastic communities sprung up throughout Roman Egypt in the early centuries of Christianity, many younger disciples looked to these older hermits to glean from their wisdom. The sayings of these “Abbas” or “Fathers” have been preserved for us in writings such as The Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
Abba Poemen said, “Sinfulness in no way destroys sinfulness. If someone does something evil to you, do something good for that person so by doing something good, you destroy sinfulness.”
This teaching hearkens back to the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus advocates an “anti-reciprocal” way of being: when someone strikes you on the cheek, don’t strike back; when someone insults you or slanders you, do not return the favor. Followers of Christ never “fight fire with fire.” Instead, the ethic of Jesus is a second-mile / other-cheek / bless-when-persecuted ethic.
But why should I do this, some will say. This doesn’t work. Not in the “real world.” It seems we think we understand the “real world” better than the Creator. Are we really willing to be so brazen in our arrogance? Have we so little regard for the teaching of the Lord?
As Poemen points out, the teaching of Jesus DOES, in fact, work. It’s efficacy is never aimed at helping us gain traction in a world hell-bent on domination and power. The efficacy of the Jesus way is found in its relationship to sin. Turning the other cheek works as a deterrent to the spread of sin. Loving your enemy works to destroy the never-ending reciprocity of hitting back harder.
When I look at the “real world,” I don’t see a realm where the so-called “wisdom” of fighting fire with fire is self-evident. What IS evident is the carnage left in the wake of this ideology: the violence, the brokenness, the bitterness. Best I can tell, the “real world” is the realm where sin runs rampant. Why would I ever accept any ideology from such a place over the word of Jesus?
As counter-intuitive as it may be, maybe the “real world” could use a dose of Christ-centered anti-reciprocity right about now.
Maybe that’s what is needed to destroy the grip of sinfulness choking us to death.
And maybe that’s one of the ways the true destiny of the “real world” comes into view, the glorious transformation announced in scripture: Revelation 11:15, The seventh angel sounded his trumpt, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.
May the kingdom of the world become the kingdom of our Lord.
Amen.
already & not yet 