From May 10, 2011
Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
That passage never gets old. Well, nothing in the Bible ever gets old, but this is one of those things that every time I hear, it kind of feels like the first time. It’s just nice to always have those words at the forefront of my head.
With some of us Christians (myself being in that category), I think that the drunkenness, promiscuous sex, saying naughty words stuff - that’s “easy” to abstain from. But this “love your enemies business” - that’s what’s hard. ‘Cause it’s more than just saying “Oh yeah, I love them” and even more just trying to “feel” some sort of love towards them - it’s actually acting in a way that shows this love. Treating them as you would your very best friend, not having ill thoughts towards or saying bad things about them.
And you know, it’s hard to show love all the time towards people we actually like sometimes. Add a person that we have no reason whatsoever to like - wow. And it’s not just tolerating our enemies or refraining from retaliating against or bad talking them. It’s loving our enemies. Think about the things you do for someone who you find easy to love - then imagine treating someone who has screwed you over or just isn’t pleasant to be with that same exact way. And I mean, you love different people in different ways, but we’re called to show some sort of genuine love towards our enemies. And it’s hard because we often feel like we’re justified in not loving that person. And you know, maybe by some standard we are. But a big part of love is showing it to people who we may feel don’t deserve it. Jesus calls us beyond what is “justified” by the standards of this world.
A simple (using that world very loosely) way to start loving your enemies, I’ve found in my own experience, is just praying for them. It does take a lot of pride swallowing, but when you’re praying for someone, it becomes harder to bear ill will towards them. It’s humbling for yourself, beneficial towards said enemy, and helps get you into that loving mindset.
And you know, when you say “enemy”, the connotation of that is some evil person who’s out to ruin your life. But I think enemy just refers to anyone who you’re not inclined to immediately show love towards. That slightly annoying student in your class, that sort of friend who keeps on bailing out on you, the guy driving behind you riding your tail and the lady up ahead of you going 10 miles under as she talks on her cellphone. And everyone else in between. Because really, we’re just called to love everyone.
It does seem crazy, though, that we’re to treat those who scorn us the same way as we treat those who love us, but that’s Jesus for ya. That’s what He does for us when we turn our backs from Him, after all - still loves us, regardless. And just like that last verse from that passage up there says: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Lastly, here’s a cool word: magnanimous - very generous or forgiving, especially toward a rival or someone less powerful than oneself.
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