You shall not take vengeance
Anyone who harbours hatred within will end up in that place where hatred thrives.
The Gospel is a story of extremes. Life and death. Joy and sorrow. Light and darkness. Heaven and hell. All of these opposites announce the ultimate difference between love and hatred.
Heaven is love. In other words, heaven is the place in the next world where everyone is filled with love and nothing but love. Love for God, love for self, love for others. There will be no hatred whatsoever in heaven. Not even a little bit of it. Not even the memory of it.
You are not allowed to hate your enemy if you want to go to heaven. If you harbour hatred within, you cannot live with God. It doesn’t matter whether or not you are justified for feeling such hatred. It doesn’t matter how much your enemies made you suffer. You must love your enemies.
Anyone who harbours hatred within will end up in that place where hatred thrives. In hell everyone hates God. They hate themselves. They hate each other. For some odd reason, it gives them a feeling of wicked satisfaction, which they would rather cling to forever than even think about forgiving their enemies.
If there is anyone in your life who leads you to think about seeking revenge, change. It may be the hardest thing you ever do. But you have to change. You have to forgive. That is why every year at this time, we remember Jesus being nailed to the cross while he utters the holiest prayer that anyone has ever uttered: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
