Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-october-7-2024
Luke 6:27-36
Love for Enemies
27 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not stop them from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
The teachings of Jesus are pretty firmly anchored in the faith traditions of the covenant people. In fact, Bible scholars say that most of his teachings are expansions on things – or clarifications of things – that can be found in various places in the Hebrew scriptures. We find them in our Old Testament. But those scholars say that the most distinctive idea in the teachings of Jesus is his commandment that his followers are to love our enemies.
The more I’ve thought about it over the years, the more I’ve been struck by an irony: If that really is the most distinctive idea in all of Jesus’ teachings, you would think that those of us who claim to be his followers should be almost fanatical about loving our enemies. But of course, we’re not. In fact, it seems as though those who are most eager to call themselves “Christians” have the least interest in obeying what Jesus says about loving our enemies. Lots of self-described Christians seem to find the idea genuinely ridiculous.
Now, it should be said that part of the problem is a matter of definitions. People might well read (or hear) this idea, and think it’s ridiculous to think they’re ever going to love their enemies. Maybe even think it’s impossible. They hear the word ‘love,’ and think of love songs and love stories – about affectionate attachment to another person.
But the Greek word that’s translated “love” in this passage – it’s the word agape – that word doesn’t really have anything to do with affection. It has to do with a commitment to the welfare of others. Twice in this passage, Jesus commands us to love our enemies. – and each time, he goes on to say we are to “do good” to them. It seems to me that Jesus understood the two phrases he used as meaning the same thing. He doesn’t say anything about ‘feeling good’ about them.
Our everyday definition of the word enemy is probably an issue here, too. Lots of people think of the Russians or the Chinese or the Iranians or the North Koreans when they think of enemies. But I don’t think Jesus was talking about the foreign enemies of the nation in this passage. Jesus and the apostle Paul both addressed the powers and responsibilities of the civil authorities, and my sense is that both of them understood that protecting the people from foreign enemies was part of their duties. So when Jesus commands us to love our enemies, I don’t think he was telling us to stand aside and let invaders destroy our country.
But I suspect that even in a military conflict, Jesus would expect his followers to show an element of mercy that sets them apart from others. A greater commitment to avoiding civilian casualties, for instance. A greater mercy for captured soldiers and defeated enemies – like the mercy Abraham Lincoln insisted upon extending to the confederacy after the Civil War.
It seems to me that what Jesus really had in mind here is a call to show agape love to our ‘private enemies’ – to people who drive us nuts at work or in school or on the highways (or even, sometimes, at church). People who gossip about us or stab us in the back. Or neighbors who pick fights, let their dogs go in our yards, etc. My sense is that when Jesus talks about people who ‘hate you, curse you and mistreat you,’ he’s mainly talking about our private lives. Those are the people we’re commanded to ‘do good’ to.
And it seems like Jesus is commanding us to keep helping people, even when they take advantage of us. Someone takes your coat, let them have your shirt. Someone asks for something, give without expecting it back.
That really sticks in our craw. We’re sometimes willing to let family and friends take advantage of us. But as Jesus says here, even some of the worst people have a soft spot in their hearts for family and friends. You get no credit for ‘doing good’ to family and friends, even letting them take advantage of you. Jesus says what God rewards is doing good to your enemies and letting them take advantage of you.
It seems to me that this teaching challenges us to ask ourselves whether we really want to live in imitation of Jesus. We might say we want to be genuinely Christ-like people, but it might be true that nobody in human history ever allowed his enemies to take advantage of him more than Jesus. Nobody ever did more good for people who hated and cursed and mistreated him. Jesus went to the cross for the sake of those who condemned him. And then he hung there and used his dying breath to pray for their forgiveness.
Some people clearly think that being a “Christian” means having the right position on what you need to do to “get saved,” or saying “Jesus is Lord!” like a mantra, or being opposed to abortion and homosexuality. But it seems to me that God expects those who claim to be living in imitation of Jesus to try to advance the interests of their enemies just as he did when he walked on this earth among us.
Let’s pray. Lord, you know how hard it is for us to love those who offend us even in little ways – not to mention those who really hate and curse and mistreat us. Hold up the example of Jesus before us each day, and by your Spirit, move us to live more and more in imitation of him. Amen.
Every Blessing,
Henry
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