You have heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ... For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? (Matthew 5: 43-46)
This concludes our Sermon on the Mount week and it doubles down on yesterday's message, loving those who it is difficult for you to love.
Is anything in the teaching of Jesus as maddening as what he shares with us here in at the end of chapter 5? Calling us to seek reconciliation, especially with our enemies and those who would seek to do us harm, goes against our natural instincts and much of the conventional wisdom of our culture. I know that left up to my own choices and desires, I would find reasons NOT to follow Jesus on this.
Still, we are called to do so. And I believe the reason we are called to do so is freedom. Jesus says, by quoting Isaiah 61, that he has come to bring "release to the captives". Often the captivity we find ourselves in is hatred, anger, and frustration brought on by another, our enemies if you will.
Seeking an alternative way for us to live, Jesus reminds us that it is ultimately most rewarding to extricate ourselves from the hurt and pain others have caused us. While we may feel that hurting them back will bring this reward, it really does not. Jesus instead offers us something else.
Praying for another person changes us. And praying for those who have hurt us can change our actions toward them. Loving our enemies does not mean, in my estimation, that we have warm fuzzy feelings for them. Instead it means that we can dare to act out of love in regards to them. It means that we can behave and respond to them from a place of faithfulness and peace. And this may even lead to some kind of reconciliation.
Jesus seeks our freedom in all aspects of our lives. Just as he broke the bonds of sin and death through His resurrection, he can break the bonds of our anxiety toward others thereby freeing us to live more fully into the abundant life He desires for us and for our world.
Jesus, make us live free from the bondage and power of hate. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment