Hate and Love

I was watching a "Count of Monte Cristo" movie one night. Alexander Dumas was the author. It is a story of Love conquering Hate. The Count, Edmund, was thrown into prison for life. He was framed or set up. His best friend then married the Count's girlfriend who was pregnant with Edmund's child and to protect the child, entered into the marriage. Edmund escapes from prison, finds a treasure, and plots revenge on his ex-friend and his old sweetheart, who he thinks did not wait very long to marry.

Edmund is driven by hate. At a certain point his old sweetheart, Mercedes, tells him she has always loved him. He tells her not to ruin his hate with her love. But she does. A kiss from Mercedes melts Edmund's hate. Eventually, Edmund decides to use his wealth for good rather than for evil, or revenge. I thought of Jesus on the cross. He was surrounded by hate and indifference. It was a rathe heartless scene of people who did not care much or at least did not care much for him. He accepted all this hate rather than to plot some revenge. Jesus forgave and loved his enemies and those who were just doing a day's work of crucifying convicted people. The centurion stabbed Jesus in the heart and then proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God. Hate and indifference can be overcome by love. Jesus believed this and Dumas tended to agree.