The mission Jesus came to do is
founded on love and is accomplished with love. John 3:16 tells us its origin.
It is rooted in God. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Now with the newly appointed twelve, Jesus
wanted them to get their foundation right. So it is not a surprise that His
first call to them and His followers, is for them to love as He loves. However, without Christ,
that level of love is not possible. Bear in mind that this call to love was given while the disciples were still reeling from the
earlier announcement that to be in the blessed state, one needs to be poor, hungry, sorrowful, and rejected.
The context was and still is indeed radical. Anyway love must be radical.
We can imagine Jesus looking
straight at His disciples and declared, “But I tell you who hear me: Love your
enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those
who mistreat you.” The love Jesus calls His followers to show is the unilateral
kind of love. It’s not love “because of” but love “in spite of.” To show love
to a friend who had offended us is already difficult, let alone loving someone
who is an enemy. This will take the highest degree of self-denial. It’s the way
God loves. While we were yet His enemies, Christ died for us. Not only that, we
are to do good to those who hate us. Just think of someone who hates you. Then
think again of something nice that you can do for him or her. We know that it’s
unnatural, but with Christ’s help it can be done. Then we are to bless those
who curse us. That is: to speak well of a person even though we know that he or
she had said something negative about us. And we are also to pray for those who
mistreat and misuse us. This kind of love can only be supernaturally inspired
and enabled.
Next Jesus demands that His
disciples live a life of non-retaliation. In fact He urges us to go beyond
non-retaliation. We are to act in
ways that will reflect the very nature and character of God. Turning the other
cheek when we are slapped; giving our shirt when someone ask for our coat; not
demanding back what is taken from you, are not to be taken literally. They are
just hyperbolic languages. Jesus is not denying the right to our property or to
personal defence. He is advocating a generous and giving spirit, a spirit that dares
to give and give. As people called to love, we can only do it when we develop the
spirit of giving. It is unconventional and requires quantum magnanimity to accomplish.
But we are to do so. Further, Jesus demands that we treat others in ways that we
expect to be treated. This is how we should treat people whether they are considered
our friends or enemies. Is it possible to live at this level? We know that this
is possible only with the help of God.
In verses 32-36, Jesus defines what this kind love ethics entails. He
tells us that we would be no different from the world if we only do what they
would do. For example, they only do good when someone has done something good for
them. They would lend something to someone but they also expect whatever borrowed
to be returned. They expect to be reciprocated. But believers must behave as God
did. He loves us even when we were at ought with Him. It is in His nature to give
and give. If we say we are His children we must act like He had acted. How
different can we be from the worldly people if we do exactly what they would do?
We must live above the law of reciprocity. We must be magnanimous and generous
in showing mercy even as God is merciful.
If we consider ourselves Christ’s
disciples, this sermon is also for us. We are to love our enemies and to truly
love them. If we cannot forgive someone who has offended us, the reality is
that Christ is not reigning in our life. So let’s love, even when we know that a
person has considered us his enemy! Let us do good even to those whom we know hate
us! And let us pray for those who are mistreating us! Let’s be merciful as God
is merciful!
When we repay good for good, we do
what an ordinary person will do.
When we repay evil for evil, we do
what an animal would do.
When we repay evil for good, we do what
the devil will do.
When we repay good for evil, we do exactly what God
would do.
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