March 30, 2022

Matthew 5: 44 (NIV)

“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Imagine yourself standing over the corpse of the one you have hated. Will you now be free?*

When Jesus speaks, we usually are asked to abandon our comfort zones and embrace new – and foreign – attitudes. “Love your neighbor” and “hate your enemy” are the common and comfortable philosophies of those who have yet to meet Jesus. We who know Jesus are aware that he wants us to be nice to everyone. Right? . . .

I think most American Christians have no clue what Jesus meant in this passage. While some of us may have accrued an enemy or two, very few of us have experienced persecution for our faith. But in other parts of the world, God’s children embody these words every day.

Jesus is expecting more than probably will ever be asked of the majority of us. Loving your enemies and praying for your persecutors goes way beyond being nice to people who aren’t nice to us. Most of us don’t have enemies who are trying to kill us – they just don’t like us. Compared to the daily abuse endured by our brothers and sisters in other countries, we are merely inconvenienced.

I don’t mean to belittle any mistreatment you have received at the hands of an enemy. Many of you - or your loved ones - have been seriously harmed by evil perpetrated by another. But when you are struggling with forgiveness; when loving your abuser seems impossible; and when praying for him seems hypocritical, remember your fellow Christians in their dire circumstances. Not to make you feel better in comparison, but to remind yourself that Jesus was talking to you and to them.

We should be people who love deeply because we are deeply loved, who forgive because we have been forgiven so much, who live peacefully because we have been called to peace.*