Luke 6:27-38
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.
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Know and Show Unnatural Love
Some of you are going to tune out what I have to say today. You’ll listen. You might even make eye contact and bob your head in understanding – you’ll get it between your ears – but when you hear what I have to say, you’ll think to yourself, “There is no way that I am going to do that.” The heart in your chest will laugh out loud, you’ll dismiss it, and you’ll move on with the rest of your day.
This is what I have to say: Love your enemies.
I mean, it’s not difficult to imagine enmity. We live in a world that is full of hostility and hatred. There were credible rumors that Russia might wage war on Ukraine this week. Our prime minister enacted the emergencies act this week, empowering local police agencies to forcibly bust up blockades and disperse people whose protest began peaceably but has become a lightning rod for hatred and violence.
There is plenty of enmity in this world, but Russia isn’t my enemy. The protesters and counter-protesters across the country in Ottawa aren’t your enemies. That’s not who Jesus is telling us to love today. He says,
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also…”[1]
Your enemy is the person who does these kinds of things to you. He’s the troll who lurks on your social media page and cuts you down every chance he gets. She’s the person you have history and bad blood with – the one you haven’t spoken to in years because you can’t stand to be in the same room with each other. It’s the neighbour girl who’s bullying your children, the brother-in-law who cheated on your sister, the contractor who cheated you out of thousands.
If you’re like me, you can name the people who have done these things to you. You might even still be able to see their faces in your mind’s eye. You might not call them your enemies or your nemeses, but that’s who they are; that’s what they’ve done to you.
Now imagine that God has gathered up all these people and put them in a police lineup. There’s a stack of files on the table in front of you listing all the ways they’ve hated and hurt you. But Jesus points at them, turns to you and says, “Love your enemies.”
Could you do it? Do you love your enemies? What would that even look like?
I’m not convinced that we always know – or are willing to admit – what love is. Let me start by telling you what love is not. Love is not a warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you look at someone. You don’t have to like someone to love them. Love isn’t just a feeling.
But love is also not just being nice to people either. You can be nice to people you don’t love at all. You can even be nice to people you hate. Love isn’t just an action.
Love is an attitude. Love starts in the heart. It’s a willful way of thinking and feeling about someone. Love does not leave room for anger or bitterness or resentment, even when that person has wronged you. The love that Jesus calls for goes beyond circumstance. It doesn’t depend on anything that anyone else does to you or for you. It isn’t nullified by hatred; it doesn’t require reciprocation. Love is a willful, intentional, unconditional attitude of the heart.
But it’s also an attitude that takes action. Love is sincere that way. It doesn’t just say the right thing, it does the right thing, regardless of whether anyone else does the right thing or not. That’s what Jesus says:
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.”[2]
In other words, God calls us to do something that runs contrary to our human nature. It’s natural to be nice to people who are nice to you. It’s unnatural to be nice to people who hate you. Enemies are not just people we don’t care for; they’re people who hurt us, who have wronged us, who have brought pain and misery into our lives. And they’re the ones God tells us to love!
But do we? Do you love your enemy? My guess is that you don’t have to search your heart long to find a grudge you’re holding onto – resentment, bitterness, anger toward someone who has legitimately hurt you. It’s only natural, but it’s still sinful, a symptom of a greater spiritual problem in our hearts.
When we cannot love our enemies, we’re sitting in judgment over them. We’re condemning them, i.e. holding their sins against them, if not with our words, at least with our hearts. But Jesus says,
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.”[3]
In other words, if we hold other people’s sins against them, and refuse to forgive them when they hurt us and love them when they hate us, then we should be held to the same standard. Then we should expect not to be forgiven when we hate and hurt other people, when we speak ill of them and give them a taste of their own medicine. Then we should be judged and condemned for our sins.
But that’s the beauty of God’s love for us. It’s not like ours. His love isn’t conditional; it doesn’t depend on whether we love him back. He doesn’t just love us when we’re loveable. He doesn’t just love us because of what we can give to him. If that were the case, he’d never love us at all!
No, God loves us in spite of us. Jesus says, “He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”[4] God is kind to you and me. That’s why he sent Jesus.
I mean, think about who’s saying this to you. It’s not me! This is not my idea. It’s Jesus. Jesus is the one who is telling you to love your enemy. And Jesus is not telling you to do anything he was unwilling to do for you.
Jesus loved his enemies. The Jewish leaders were plotting to kill him for the better part of a year. One of his own disciples had decided to betray him. And yet Jesus didn’t run away or hide from the Pharisees and Sadducees. He didn’t curse out Judas. He kept preaching and teaching to them, giving them every opportunity to change their hearts and their minds.
Even when Jesus was on trial for his life – accused of crimes he did not commit, abused at the hands of his own countrymen, nailed to a tree by callous Roman soldiers – he didn’t curse anyone, he didn’t fight back. He prayed for them! He asked his Father in heaven to forgive them, even as they were in the process of killing him!
Someone once said that forgiveness is a necessary part of love, and that to forgive someone means that you are choosing to bear all the hurt and pain yourself, to spare the person who did you wrong the guilt or shame that they deserve to feel. We don’t always do that. We want the people who hurt us to feel the pain they inflicted on us, even if they apologize. We want the person who embarrassed us, to writhe in discomfort as they beg for forgiveness. But not Jesus. That’s not God’s love for you.
Jesus chose to bear all the hurt and pain himself. He didn’t hold a stitch of it against us. In love he forgave us. He embodied everything he calls for from us. He loved his enemies. He did good to us, he blessed us, he prayed for us, even though we sinned and continue to sin against him. He was willing to give everything for you without expecting to receive anything from you in return. That’s how much God loves you.
“He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”[5]
Jesus loves you and forgives you. But he even goes beyond that. He gives you a new lease on life and a new way to look at the world.
You don’t have to scratch and claw and demand that people treat you with respect. That doesn’t make you a doormat for people to walk all over. It makes you like Christ, your Saviour, who showed you perfect love, and now invites you to reflect that love to your enemies.
You don’t have to insist on being treated properly by everybody. You can even be treated poorly and painfully. That doesn’t mean you’re losing out on the best that life has to offer. It means that you already have the best that Jesus has to offer. He says,
“Love your enemies… then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High.”[6]
Our reward is our relationship with God, and there’s no better relationship that we could enjoy than being his children.
Love your enemies. It’s easier said than done, but our Saviour said and did it for you. Now may his love inspire yours in return, and may his words not fall on deaf ears, but on forgiven hearts that are ready and eager to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful. Amen.
[1] Luke 6:27-29
[2] Luke 6:32,33
[3] Luke 6:37
[4] Luke 6:35
[5] Luke 6:35
[6] Luke 6:35