Love Your Enemy – It’s Impossible

EVEN JESUS COULDN’T LOVE HIS ENEMIES.

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies …. Matt 5:43-48

This is the brilliance of Jesus; the brilliance of the Gospels. You cannot love your enemy because the instant you love somebody they instantly cease to be your enemy.

Tragically we cannot see a person’s aura, their soul, because if we could it would totally transform human relationships. We can rightly despise the actions of another person, but if we could see their soul we could never despise the person. We would see that, just like us, they were created by God, are cared for by God, and are special to God. How can we despise someone who is special to God?

True Story

A serious crimes prisoner who had been attending a creative writing course came before the Review Board. He was a big man, a hard man, the type that frightens you at sight. A member of the Board read a sample of his writing and slid the paper back to the man and asked him to sign it. The man asked why?

‘Because one day you will be a famous writer, and I want an early copy; it will be worth a lot of money’.

And the man broke down and cried. He said ’Those are the first kind words anyone has ever said to me in my entire life’.

We may rightly condemn the crime that man had committed, but to despise the man himself takes us back to the dark ages where we would despise a person because they were physically crippled.

 

We judge from the outside; only God knows who we really are. In error we can despise a rusty shipping container for its ugliness, not knowing it is packed with jewels. The soul is a jewel.

Jung in 1928 said that the psychology of war was that everything our nation does is good; everything other nations do is wicked. The centre of all that is mean and vile is always found several miles behind the enemy lines.

And what has changed? Over our lifetimes how many peoples have we been incited to hate, and how many of those peoples did we ever make the effort to understand. Jesus is saying it takes no effort to hate, its lazy to hate, it’s the easy way out. Churchill offered only blood, sweat and tears; Jesus said ‘take up your cross’

Rephrasing Jesus’ words:

You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that.

I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves.

This is what God does. He gives His best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.

If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up.

You’re all subjects in the Kingdom of God. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.   The Message translation