The Remedy for Evil: Overcome Evil with Good

The LORD said to Moses,
“Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them:
Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.

“You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart.
Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen,
do not incur sin because of him.
Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19: 1-2, 17-18)

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,
hand over your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile,
go for two miles. 
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 38-48)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses the problem of evil. How do we go about in the world when faced with evil?

We know that there is a lot of evil in the world, and this is because we live in a fallen world. The advice Jesus gives seems to be impractical if not impossible.

The fact that evil exists, that suffering exists, causes people to question God’s existence. If God is all-powerful and all loving, why is there evil? If God is all-powerful, then he could end evil, but He does not. So how can He be all loving? Does God not care about suffering in our lives? Does He not care about us or love us?

Jesus addresses the problem of evil in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus faced evil in his own life, and his Passion and death. Jesus is the model. He said, “You have heard that it was said to do this, but I tell you to do that.” Jesus said, “I did not come to abolish the law and the prophets. They are good. I am not going to start something new. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill the law and the prophets.”

The Book of Leviticus instructed the Jews not to bear hatred for their brothers and sisters in their hearts. We’ve all heard the eye for the eye and the tooth for a tooth law. This law was a good law. It was meant to curb violence. Because we are fallen, we have a tendency to escalate violence. My tendency is to take your two eyes for the one eye you have taken from me. The Book of Leviticus said no. You take my eye. I can take your eye but no more. Jesus goes farther. He says, “I say to you to not resist the evildoer. If someone strikes you on one cheek turn to him the other one so that he can strike you there as well. If someone takes your mantle, give him your cloak as well.” This is the remedy for evil. But that doesn’t solve the problem of evil, does it?

Look at Jesus’ life. By taking charge of evil, Jesus annihilated it by taking it on himself. John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus was God. He was sinless. He could take the sins of the human race all through the centuries from the very first century to the end of time, and he is the only one who could do this because he is infinitely able and willing to take the sins of the world upon himself. Pope Benedict XVI said that when Jesus went into the River Jordan all the sins of the human race were on him and drowned in the waters.

Jesus before the High Priest by Gerrit van Honthorst, 1617

Look at the scenes of the Passion. Jesus offers us a testimonial. Jesus was struck on one sheet and he turned the other. He did not strike back. He was like a meek Lamb who does not strike back. On the cross he experienced all sorts of blasphemy, reviling, accusations. To all the world Jesus looked like a helpless, passive victim on the cross. But St. John of the Cross says that the most active ministry of Jesus’ life was on the cross, taking upon himself the sins of the world and annihilating them.

The original Gospel stuck to the Passion narratives. The miracles and healing that preceded the Passion were good, they were beautiful, but they were not the reason Jesus came. Jesus set us free from sin and darkness, not through the teachings and the miracles and the healings but through his Passion for he made atonement for all the sins of mankind.

We are to follow the example of Jesus. We are called to do what he did. Jesus says to offer no resistance. Turn the other cheek. Christians are called to this beautiful, noble, powerful remedy in the face of evil. Christians have a role to play, and we are privileged to be part and parcel of this remedy. What do we do if we offer no resistance? We are not passive. We are not suppressed by evil. This does not mean we give up seeking justice or we give up righting wrongs. The most active moment in our lives must be when we face evil.

Saint Josephine Bakita

I was at a conference where a priest was giving two talks. In the first talk he spoke about the state of the world in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. And he listed statistic after statistic that talked about the evil of wars, of violence, of lives lost, of persecutions. The first session was so depressing that many priests left. But in the second session, the priests were crying practically the entire time. The presenter began with the beautiful life of St. Josephine Bakita, an African slave girl who was subjected to torture, humiliation, and injustice of the most horrible types. This little girl was sold into slavery and then transferred from one master to another until finally she ended up with an Italian Catholic family who bought her. From them she learned about Jesus and this turned her life around. Eventually she became a Catholic and wanted to become a Canossian nun. Because she was humble and could not read, she considered herself to be a little sister. She had no education, but in the school she would place her hands on every child and bless them day after day to the end of her life. This is what St. Paul advises. Do not overcome evil with evil but overcome evil with good. If your enemy is hungry give him some food. If he is thirsty give them something to drink. Bless those curse you. The children were not the ones who had inflicted evil on Bakita. She could not do good to those evil doers, but she did good to many others. She overcame the evil she had experienced in her life by doing good to others. Overcome evil with good.

We Christians are called to be in the major league in the fight against evil. We can’t bear the outcome of evil by ourselves. The weight of sin presses us down. We have to take the side of another. That is why we do not retaliate. I am simple and flawed myself. I must accept the evil in me but not conform to it. I must give the evil over to the power of the Holy Spirit which was given to me at Baptism just as it was given to Jesus.

We are called to be living furnaces where evil is concerned. Everything thrown into a furnace will burn up. We are to burn up evil in our lives and in our world. The world would be different if we acted by the power of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said that he baptized with water but after him would come someone who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Why fire? Because fire burns. We are to be living furnaces who burn up evil by returning good for it, by blessing those who harm us. This is a three-part formula for dealing with evil.

1. Accept that evil exists but do not conform to it.

2. Give it over to the power of the Holy Spirit

3. Return good for evil and bless those who persecute us.

What if every time that we heard of evil or experienced evil, we did something good? By this power, by this blessing, evil can be overcome in the world.

--Transcribed as best as possible from a homily by Fr. James Kumbakkeel, O.S.B