Friends and neighbors who were interviewed after the Son of Sam killer was apprehended had all found him to be nice, and never would have suspected he was a serial killer. Evil had a face, David Berkowitz.
Jeffrey started killing animals at a young age. He killed his first human when he was 16 but killed 17 more young men before he was finally stopped. Evil had a face, Jeffrey Dahmer.
David was so faithful that God helped him to defeat Goliath and become the king of Israel. God referred to David as a man after His own heart. But then evil was found in his heart, and he lusted after Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his best friends. David committed adultery with her, and then he killed Uriah to keep it a secret. However, neither the adultery nor the murder was secret. Evil had a face, King David.
On September 11, 2001, terrorists pulled off attacks against America, killing nearly 3,000 people, including eight children. Evil had a face, 19 terrorists, and a culture of hatred.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas executed well-coordinated armed incursions at the southern border of Israel, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,200 Israelis and others of different nationalities, murdered in some of the most horrendous and inhumane ways, and took 251 hostages. Evil had a face that day, Hamas, and a culture that has hated Israel and Western culture for centuries.
A short time after the attacks on October 7, I was watching a day-in-the-life video of a Palestinian journalist in Gaza. I could see the abject fear in his eyes and sense it in his body as he cowered on the floor. He was certain that he would die at any moment. However, at that moment, I felt nothing for him, all of my sympathies being with those who had suffered and the families of those who had died. I don’t dislike Palestinians, so I can’t explain why I felt as I did for this man’s fear, and I saw something in myself that I had not seen before, something that needed to change. As Christians, God calls us all to love our neighbors. But as sinners, evil can have a face any day, and it could be any one of us.
“Love is the principle that underlies God’s government in heaven and on earth, and this love must be interwoven in the life of the Christian. The love of Christ is not a fitful love; it is deep, and broad, and full. Its possessor will not say, ‘I will love only those who love me.’ The heart that is influenced by this holy principle will be carried above everything of a selfish nature.” The Youth’s Instructor, June 10, 1897
“Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10
Who is our neighbor?
“Everyone who is in suffering need is our neighbor. …
“Our neighbors are not merely our associates and special friends; they are not simply those who belong to our church or who think as we do. Our neighbors are the whole human family. … We are to give to the world an exhibition of what it means to carry out the law of God. We are to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves.
“He who truly loves God and his fellow man is he who shows mercy to the destitute, the suffering, the wounded, those who are ready to die.” My Life Today, 232
Dear Lord, we know evil has a face; we pray it isn’t ours.