Jesus was very clear about how to respond to our enemies. It is not easy.
He said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:43-45
It is interesting that Jesus put ‘love them” before “pray for them.” I have heard some pray for their enemies, but what they were praying for was quite removed from anything loving.
Loving someone implies we really think about them. We can’t try to block them from our thoughts by trying to say, “You’re dead to me.”
Loving someone implies thinking the best of them, imagining who God created them to be, and in faith, believing they can still become that person.
Love truly forgives, even while the sins are still in progress. Love forgives even when we find no human reason to forgive.
Forgiveness frees up the fountain of love, which is manifested in mercy. We extend mercy even to those who have been most unmerciful.
Who are the enemies?
Sometimes someone instantly comes to mind. Someone who has treated us or those we love badly.
Sometimes countries define who is the enemy. We are told who to hate.
Sometimes those who have committed heinous crimes become our enemies, even when we do not know them. We attach their actions to their person. Our natural sorting system labels them as bad.
So now we come back to Jesus’ teaching. Is it really possible to love our enemies? What really separates us from them?
It is easier to judge and label who is the enemy when we think we are better than they are. We think we would never do what they do. We think even if we have some faults, they are not nearly as bad as that of the enemies.
But wile we view the world through what we believe are our righteous eyes looking upon unrighteousness, we must also come face to face with another of Jesus’ teachings.
Those who saw a woman taken in adultery were ready to accuse, judge, condemn and carry out what they believed was justice.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Then He stooped down again and wrote on the ground.
John 8:6-8
We don’t know what Jesus wrote, but it is possible each person there saw their own sin revealed in Jesus’ writing. They got the message.
God does rate sins. He does not say which sin is worse. All sins are on the same level.
In fact, if we were to comb the Bible trying to determine what sins Jesus considered the worst, we would find this.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:1-2
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:14-15
Whoever speaks against The Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
Matthew 12:32
What would that last one mean? The Holy Spirit is God. If we presume that what we decide tops what God decides, we are speaking and acting against Him.
Jesus was clear.
“Whoever is not with Me is against Me.”
Matthew 12:30
While Jesus did not rate sins, He did rate commandments.
Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:37-39
If you really don’t know how to love, even yourself, Jesus says to watch Him and love like that.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
John 13:34
How did those respond to Jesus writing on the ground? They stopped judging and went away.
How do we respond to our enemies? Jesus already gave the answers.
Love.
Pray.
Do not judge.
Forgive.
Love as Jesus loved.
Throughout His Life, even in His final hours, Jesus showed the ultimate Love in forgiveness and mercy, even to those He could have considered enemies.
“You go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:37
