Luke 6:27-36 (NIV) 27 “But to you who are listening I say: 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 slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 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.
Do you have any difficult people in your life? Would they be in the category of enemy, as in love your enemies? And do you? Do you love those people in the spirit and with the love of Jesus Christ? Do we love our enemies?
What kind of love are we talking about -- agape, philios, Eros? What if Jesus means all the loves thrown into one and expressed through our emotions, hearts, wills, and actions? What if Jesus means bless them, and don’t complain about them? Don’t simply tolerate them. Don’t simply try to be nice to them. Bless them; bless them with the gift of Christ’s love. Can we do that?
Bless them. Pray for them. Pray for them in love. Pray with the belief that God really does want something good to happen to them. And, if they strike you, do not strike back. If they say all kinds of false things about you, don’t try to get back at them with your actions, in your mind or in any other way. Can we do that?
Bless. Pray. Do good. And when you are mistreated and when your life has been made hard and difficult, does it stop with you? Love your enemies. This is the stuff that great novels are written about, and this is the stuff that changes and transforms our world. But, is this the stuff that has changed us, you and me?
Jesus gives only one reason for loving our enemies. It is the way God is. God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Love your enemies because God does and God will enable you to do so as well. We cannot do it without knowing the love of God for you and me. And once we have known that love, the price of doing anything else is just to big a price to pay.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 18, 2001
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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