But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. Luke 6:27-31
I wonder how many listeners got past the first three words: Love your enemies?! What kind of teaching is this? No wonder he began with a warning note (I say to you who hear sounds like, “Listen up!”). This is explosive stuff:
Love your enemies
Do good to those who hate you
Bless those who curse you
Pray for those who mistreat you . . . .
But if we’re really listening, we might understand that it’s not a new teaching. We might even catch a few echoes from the past:
They despised his pleasant land, having no faith in his promise . . . Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress when he heard their cry (Ps. 106)
They forgot the LORD their God . . . But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, he raised up a deliverer, who saved them (Judges 3:7,9)
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called to them, the more they ran away, sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to talk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that it was I—
I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love;
I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws; I bent down to them and fed them . . . (Hosea 11:1-4)
All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned—every one—to his own way . . . (Is. 53:6)
The echoes go back and back, all the way to, Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?
How would you define the word “enemy”? Someone who doesn’t like you? Maybe, but if that person keeps his distance, you can live with that (and besides, you may not like him much either). An enemy is someone who opposes you—not accidentally, like the driver who changed lanes and forced you to stamp on the brakes and lay on your horn–but deliberately. The committee chair who shoots down all your ideas, the supposed bff who spreads lies about you, the rival contractor who underbids you, the woman who leads your husband astray—that’s your enemy.
But what about the wife with the wandering eye, or the child who runs away while you’re calling him to come back–runs right into the street?
The Lord’s own children opposed him. They ran away deliberately, right into the street. They made themselves his enemies, disregarded his words, gobbled up lies about him and squandered his blessings. Have you ever held a rebellious child while she’s in the throes of self-destructive rage, thrashing his arms and legs and screaming, “I hate you! I hate you! I HATE you!” What’s your reaction?
Can God feel like a battered husband or a rejected parent?
Listen: Anyone can love somebody who makes them feel good. Anyone can return a favor or make a loan when the collateral is up front. Kindness can be its own reward, if it earns you a warm inward glow instead of a kick in the teeth. Like you’d get from an enemy.
But the Kingdom again turns our world on its head. Our reward is not a result of loving enemies, it’s the cause of loving enemies. It’s the very reason we can love, and do good, and lend with no expectation of return, even a murmured “Thank you,” from the objects of our largess. If we are children of the Most High, our account has already been paid into:
For he is kind to the ungrateful and the unjust.
If the ungrateful and the unjust don’t say it, the angels will: Look at that. Loving their enemies–just like their Father.
For the first post in this series, go here.
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