A Southern Pastor: The Joke’s On Voldemort


Harry Potter is not especially “good.” He breaks rules, gets in trouble, and makes bad decisions. So, why is he the boy who lived?

Is there anyone who you feel has done wrong to you? How does that make you feel? How do you want to treat them? Do you wish bad upon them? Do you stop speaking to them? One of my favorite country songs sums up how we normally feel about those who hurt us.

JARON AND THE LONG ROAD TO LOVE “Pray For You”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atBg9zLI2bA]

 

I haven’t been to church since I don’t remember when
Things were goin’ great ’til they fell apart again
So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do
He said you can’t go hatin’ others who have done wrong to you
Sometimes we get angry, but we must not condemn
Let the good Lord do His job and you just pray for them

I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are honey, I pray for you

Romans 12:19-21

19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[b] says the Lord.20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[c]

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Think about the person who has done wrong to you and how your relationship has developed. When you think of them, how does your heart feel? Does your “blood boil”? What that literally means is that your BP rises. You feel emotionally bad about that person to the point that you actually feel sick in your body

Now, how does the fact that your “blood boils” actually affect the person you feel has wronged you? After my divorce, I felt so much negative emotion that I lost 30 pounds, my BP and asthma got all messed up, and I went on anti-depression pills. My ex-husband, on the other hand, felt just fine. The fact that I felt so much negative emotion toward him had no negative impact on him at all; it only hurt me.

In the above scripture, God says “I got this.” You do as I have told you, live in peace and love one another, and let me take care of anyone who doesn’t follow that rule, because if you try to take the act of revenge upon yourself, it only hurts you. On the other hand, if you show kindness to someone who wrongs you, it will heap burning coals of fire upon his head.

When I got to the point that I could just smile and tell my ex-husband that no matter what, I loved him and wished good for him, it completely freaked him out. Openly hating him was what he expected, it gave him comfort, helped him with his guilt. But to be shown love and kindness by someone that he knew he had hurt so badly, scared him a little, and it took the negativity of that situation off of my heart and piled it square upon his head. Since I wasn’t wallowing in the negativity anymore, he had to deal with it himself.

Harry Potter was the boy that lived. Not because his mother was the more powerful wizard. Not because of some weird connection between he and the evil Voldemort. Harry Potter was the boy that lived because his mother focused not on the hatred she felt for Voldemort, but on the love she felt for Harry. Instead of attempting to lash out at Voldemort, she had simply covered Harry with her love. The act of shielding her baby, and dying to shield him from the worst evil their world had ever known, placed a protection on Harry that no evil could penetrate. She ignored Voldemort and covered Harry with love. Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.

I love the Harry Potter books because at their very core, that is their message. Evil doesn’t defeat evil. Only love can defeat evil. God told us to have faith in Him and love one another. He didn’t promise it would always be easy, but he did promise to take care of us when it wasn’t. Follow that simple commandment to share love, and let God take care of anyone who doesn’t. If Harry Potter’s mother can protect him from the most evil Voldemort by the sheer amount of her love, how much more can God protect us with the immeasurable amount of His.

Voldemort attempted to have ultimate power through using evil deeds and fear. Turns out, the joke is on him. Ultimate power only comes from sharing pure love.

RIP Alan Rickman. We will remember you and your beloved characters…Always.

Melanie Tubbs is a professor, pastor, mother, Mimi, and true Arkansas woman. She lives with nine cats and one dog on a quiet hill in a rural county where she pastors a church and teaches history at the local university. Her slightly addictive personality comes out in shameful Netflix binges and a massive collection of books. Vegetarian cooking, reading mountains of books for her seminary classes, and crocheting for the churches prayer shawl ministry take up most of her free time, and sharing the love of Christ forms the direction of her life. May the Peace of Christ be with You.