Strength to Love

"Love your enemies, bless those who curse you"

Thoughts from Howard Amery's message at Nightcliff UC 23rd February 2025

Joseph's story of sibling rivalry and family disputes are duplicated in many of our lives. It is easy to think of our enemies as the 'other' but often our 'enemies' are those closest to us. It’s an all too familiar story, trouble and strife between sisters and sisters, brothers and brothers, brothers and sisters – repeated again and again over successive generations in the Bible, throughout history, and in our own families. Enmity, which is another word for ‘hatred’, rivalry, malice, conflict – shares the same Latin root with the word enemy, or in Latin, ‘inimicus’, or, not a friend. It is opposite in meaning to the word amity, which means, love, affection and friendship.

32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same." Jesus’ radical teaching exhorts his listeners, in the midst of their poverty and oppression, to love their enemies.

The above passage speaks of the Yolŋu word märr, which Donald Thomson wrote about in the 1930’s. Thomson refers to märr as being a spiritual power or supernatural force, such that when you are märrmirr, possessing or having märr, you are imbued with extra strength or power – socially, economically and spiritually. The way you acquire märr is by doing good, and giving to others, and not receiving any immediate benefit or recompense. If you are märrmirr you are in credit, socially as well as economically. If you are märrmiriw (strength + lacking), you are in debt. So, the aim of traditional Yolŋu economics, and Yolŋu social relations, is to be a person who is generous and giving. The net result being that you are in credit, or a person in good standing, because of the way you have helped others and supported others, just as Luke’s version indicates.

Thomson attributed the construct of märr as being the main driver or motivating force for Yolŋu to be industrious and engage in economic production. Like all societies, Yolŋu had enemies, and the best way to deal with enemies was to make them your friend. However, this strategy didn’t always work, and people sometimes engaged in warfare. BUT the ultimate aim and desire was always to live in peace and, from Thomson’s reports, this prevailed most of the time.