“But to you who are listening I say: 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. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “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… Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Luke 6:27-33, 36 NIV
Jesus was a true revolutionary! His yoke, His interpretation of Torah that led to the demonstration of a lifestyle of mercy and non-retaliation, was as revolutionary as, for example, a military operation that invades enemy territory to provide medical help to those injured through war.
“Love your enemies…” is as unpalatable to the human mind as expecting a millionaire to give his Lamborghini to a homeless beggar. This would be unnatural behaviour at its worst for the one whose natural bent is towards “You hit me and I’ll hit you twice as hard…”
Yet, Jesus gave this instruction as part of His yoke as though it were the way the rule of God works in His divine system. God’s boundaries, His laws, are an expression of His nature. They give us a peek into who He is and how He operates, even in the hostile world over which He rules.
In the main, the citizens of God’s world are His enemies and utter rebels against everything that He is and wants from them. He owns the world and its people, yet those who live in it refuse to acknowledge His authority. Some deny His very existence, while others do whatever they can to defy Him.
How does God treat those who hate Him? Does He relish His right to punish and destroy? The witness of Scripture, from cover to cover, is the story of a God who loves, blesses, and acts in mercy to the worst of rebels.
“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.”
Luke 6:35 NIV
God’s mercy peaked in Jesus when He gave His own Son as a sacrifice for sinners.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 NIV
God’s kingdom is wide open for those who accept His sacrifice and, in response, pledge to live in His kingdom in keeping with the nature of His rule. There is no place in God’s realm for those who claim allegiance but demonstrate rebellion by rejecting His standards.
Above all else, knowing that for the natural human to live by God’s standards is impossible, God has provided the way for ungodly rebels to be transformed into compliant sons and daughters. He gave us His own Spirit to live inside us, to transform rebels into saints by the power of His word.
In Jesus, the Father has provided, by His grace, strength to overcome the ravages of our old nature and truth to renew our minds in the ways of righteousness, holiness and peace.
“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
John 1:17 NIV
So, for Jesus to require that we love our enemies by treating them as the Father has treated us, though it contradicts our natural bent towards selfishness, is more than a pipe dream. It is the response of grateful people whose lives are being transformed by His grace. It is the expression of obedience of a son to a father, and a response of trust that what God wants He will also do in us by His grace. It is a witness to the world that it is Christ in us who guarantees that we will be like Him when we see Him.
God treats people out of who He is, the God who is in His essence, love….and so must we, and we can because of Him!
To be continued…