Revenge

About revenge in general

Psalm 94, 1-7;

These first verses are about revenge and I would like to reflect on the term "revenge" with you.

People often make it too easy for themselves and brush the issue aside with a sentence like this: "You should not take revenge, but forgive." aside.
But let's think about it together.

First of all, you can see that there is something appealing about revenge.
In many films, the villain gets his just punishment at the end. He is beaten up or killed and the audience shouts (inwardly) enthusiastically: "Yes, give it to him!".
This plot motif appears in so many films that you can conclude that the audience would like to see something like this.

In most cases, the villain is then portrayed as so evil that the viewer can hardly wish for anything else but that the villain has to pay for his evil deeds in the end.
The audience then demands "revenge" for every evil deed of the villain in the film.

But even if you read in the newspaper or on the news every day that some corrupt or criminal politician has been arrested, you can't always help but feel a certain joy.

And even with some people we meet in our lives, we sometimes have thoughts of revenge. Oh, if only we could... sometimes also: Oh, if only...

The saying "revenge is sweet" seems to be true in the minds of most people.
But why is that?

Is it just a cultural thing like the blood feud that still exists in some areas?
In other words: for example, an acquaintance or a neighbour annoys me or harms me and I can't do anything about it. But at some point the matter is over.

What would I gain if something were to happen to this friend or neighbour or if I were to annoy or harm them?
The thing that happened back then would still happen and nothing would change.
Revenge rarely has anything to do with somehow making up for material damage, it is often only carried out for the sake of revenge; you want to get back at the other person somehow.

Why? Where does the desire for revenge come from? What are the motives behind it?

We can first take a look at the motives of our psalmist.

So there were people (v.4) who spoke impudently. We can well understand the psalmist, can't we? With such cheeky types, you'd like to .... well, that's not right, but even here we can somehow understand the psalmist's thoughts of revenge.

But there's more: they terrorise God's people - including the psalmist's fellow countrymen - and even worse, they prey on the helpless: widows, orphans and strangers.
And you can really get upset about that.

Even in this day and age, people's tempers boil at such offences, especially child abuse, and sometimes even call for the death penalty and vigilante justice.
You can understand that, especially if you have children yourself. I don't really know how I would react if someone were to do something to my children.

If you look at the examples, you realise that there are different types and motives for revenge. Two points emerge from the Psalm we have read:

1. The perpetrator should
pay for his actions. Somehow, everyone has a certain sense of justice that tells them that someone who does evil must pay for it.
In the Psalm we read above, this is stated in v. 2.
2. By taking revenge on
the offender, existing injustices are also to be eliminated. This is what it says in v.3.4.

These two points sound somehow positive and sensible.

But ... Is this the revenge that is sweet?

Thoughts of revenge rarely have anything to do with reason and logic, but are usually caused by wounded pride, jealousy, envy or fanaticism.

Wounded pride or jealousy is an age-old motive that is often described in literature. For example, a man chooses one woman and rejects another, who then takes revenge at some point, or conversely a woman chooses one man and rejects another, or someone cheats on their partner - there are countless examples.

This is also described in Proverbs (Proverbs 6:32-35):

The text does not say that the behaviour of the deceived person, i.e. the person who takes revenge, is right, but this is often how a deceived person behaves. He then no longer wants to think logically and rationally, he only seeks revenge.

Can this be seen as positive or even righteous revenge? I don't think so, but of course the adultery described here is just as serious a sin.

Or to take a simpler example: one of us rips the other off and the other waits for the opportunity to take revenge.

Is that his right, as one sometimes hears?

Sometimes it's the case that one person feels ripped off and the other isn't aware of it. That is then even more difficult.

Then there is revenge out of fanaticism, e.g. when Muslims who convert to Jesus are killed by their compatriots, as often happens in the oh-so-moderate Saudi Arabia.
A decision or a certain way of life is seen as an attack against one's own faith and then revenge is taken.

Saul did nothing else before he converted to Jesus (Acts 8:3):

The people had done nothing to anyone, but what they said and lived made the higher-ups feel challenged and attacked, and fanatical and willing helpers were ready to do the dirty work.

Let us summarise once again:
Other motives for revenge are wounded pride, jealousy, envy or fanaticism.
And even if we want to explain some thoughts of revenge in positive terms, we have to recognise that in our lives, 99% of thoughts of revenge actually stem from these bad motives.

Dealing with thoughts of revenge

How do we deal with thoughts of revenge in our lives?

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is certainly a key; I mentioned it at the beginning. I don't want to make it too easy for myself, but forgiveness remains a very central point.

When I have thoughts of revenge, I only have the guilt of the other person in front of me and I have enough guilt of my own.

The verse from the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:12, says it all:

In a few verses further on, Jesus goes one better (vv. 14-15):

Quite simple, isn't it?
Oh, it's easy to forgive when the other person has done something to us by mistake.
Hey, it can happen.

But what about people who harm us out of stubbornness or even deliberately?

Can we also forgive them? This is difficult and an important lesson that everyone has to learn personally. No matter how often you hear "you have to forgive the other person", if you are personally affected by it, you have to learn it yourself.

Add

In our lives, thoughts of revenge are often associated with resentment; we do not forget what the other person has done to us.

Some people only live for their revenge. In films that deal with this, the sentence "Only the thought of my revenge has kept me alive" comes up from time to time.

Even if situations in films are often exaggerated or one-sided, films are primarily successful when they show what the audience would like to see.

And then when a lonesome cowboy spends his life travelling through the West to find his friend's murderers, the whole audience goes along with him, and even if you don't have a murdered friend, you would still find enough reasons to somehow get revenge on all sorts of people you felt had treated you wrong.

Thoughts of revenge can really capture you. Sometimes you visualise revenge at length in your mind.
Somehow it's like a drug. Although it is a burden that binds your thoughts, you believe that you will feel good and free once you have taken your revenge and don't realise that everything revolves around this revenge.

The only way is to get rid of revenge. But how?

Do we believe that God is just? Then he will fight for our cause and we won't have to worry about it any more, will we?

Romans 12:17-21 says:

That's not easy at all. You might be happy, hehehe, may the fiery coals really burn, but the summary of this text is: