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Enemy Love

Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial

 Rob Hogeslag via Compfight

Zack Hunt over at The American Jesus shared the story of Paul Keane who offered his own burial plot to Tamerlan Tsarnaev if his family could not find a cemetery that would accept his body. You’ll remember that Tsarnaev was one of the men who carried out the Boston Marathon bombings and was killed in a shootout later in the week. Paul Keane is taking Jesus’ command to love our enemies very seriously. I wonder how the world would be different if in the wake of such hateful acts more of us could find it in ourselves to reach for love, against our more natural instincts.

From Zack’s blog:

In many ways it seems this path to perfection is a much more difficult path to tread than simply not doing certain things. After all, I don’t know about you, but my first, second, and third reactions to the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing and every other event like that was not – “I know you destroyed lives out of hate, but I choose to love you anyway.”

I kind of doubt that was Paul Keane’s first reaction either. But unlike me, Paul decided to actually take Jesus at his word and live out this most difficult of callings in one of the most difficult of situations.

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