Scripture

Matthew 5:43-45 NRSV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Consider

Who is my enemy? The word enemy may sound a little extreme, so instead we might ask ourselves, what sort of person is difficult for me to love? I could put together a list of people who do not look, speak, or think like me, who hold different political or religious views than I do, whose lifestyle offends me, or whose manner of dress, choice in music, or culinary habits put me off because they seem so strange and foreign. I can add to this list people who have hurt me personally, who have abused my trust, maligned or rejected me, and of whom I might say to Jesus, “Love this person? Are you kidding? I can hardly stand to be in the same room with him.”

Christian love, the kind that identifies us as God’s children, is not the same as human affection. It is not a bid for intimacy, nor is it a reward for my being treated well. In fact, loving our enemies is so unnatural, so repugnant to our human nature that we need God’s help to obey this command. For that very same reason, it is the most powerful witness for God’s kingdom that we can present to the unbelieving world.

As in the story of the Samaritan who showed mercy to his natural enemy—a badly beaten Jew left to die by the side of the road—Christian love sees a neighbor where the world sees a foe. Loving our enemies is not the same as loving what they do or say, approving what they believe, or condoning what hurtful actions they have perpetrated. Loving our enemies means setting aside our biases and assumptions, looking deeper, and seeing a neighbor, a fellow human whom God created as carefully and lovingly as God created you or me. It means offering kindness and respect to every person as indiscriminately as the sun offers light and the clouds offer rain, graces from God’s hand to bless both the deserving and the undeserving, the God-haters as well as the God-lovers.

As we learn to view our enemies as neighbors, we discover a link between Jesus’ two love imperatives: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” and “Treat others as you would want them to treat you.” Christian love compels me to offer the same consideration to my enemy-turned-neighbor as I would wish to receive myself. In other words, I welcome the person with strange clothes and manners in the same way I would hope to find welcome when I am the stranger. When someone expresses an opposing viewpoint, I listen with grace and respect I would hope to receive when I express my own opinions. And because I know the healing grace of receiving forgiveness for injuries I have caused, I offer forgiveness to those who have injured me.

Pray

Merciful Father, I confess there are people in my life I am incapable of loving. In some cases, I cannot even find the will to try loving them. By your grace, help me to respect and appreciate those people I would rather oppose or dismiss. Thank you for your indiscriminate blessings and the saving love you extended to me while I was still your enemy and undeserving of such kindness.

Reflect

Matthew 7:12; Luke 10:25-37; Romans 12:18-21

Ponder

Whom do I regard with hostility? What might help me to see this person as my neighbor?