We live in world of vengeance. Whether it’s a military strike to show our might and power, cutting off a driver who angered us, or addressing a perceived slight from a co-worker, all too often the first thing we think about is how we can retaliate and make some country or person suffer for what they did to us.

Revenge has been part of our lives forever. Even the second book of the Bible talks about revenge with the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a tooth passage. From the Bible to the works of the ancient Greeks, and even Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” line by Hermia -- What, can you do me greater harm than hate -- our culture has made hate and vengeance a popular staple of the film industry and an acceptable way to conduct our affairs. Sometimes we even cheer for it.

Sadly, hate and revenge have rooted themselves deep into our psyche. Scientists have concluded that parts of our brains are stimulated when we inflict revenge on someone who harmed us. Unfortunately, for some, this “pleasure” needs to be repeated over and over, in a painful cycle of retaliation.

The downside to living a life of revenge and retaliation is that we are constantly reliving what tripped our proverbial trigger in the first place. Then the hateful events become imbedded in our memory, and the more we dwell on them, the less we focus on living the life to which Christ calls us.

Jesus knew there was a better way, a better course of action, and ways in which we can purge our minds of the hate, vengeance, and retaliation. In Matthew, he instructed his disciples (people who were persecuted daily for their beliefs) that they should … 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.

As Christians, these are words we hold high and aspire to model. But it is not as easy as it sounds. Revenge rears its ugly head, and we feel compelled to act in a way that is contrary to what Jesus instructed his disciples to do.

As we continue our Lenten journey in this messy world of ours, pray to God for his guidance and help, that we can control our desire to strike back at each perceived harm inflicted upon us and to, instead, let the event pass so we can focus on the good Christ asks of us, the good we want to dedicate our lives to, rather than the evil we can bring to bear on others. 
As so aptly said by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an eye for an eye leaves us blinded.