God calls us to love our enemies

Good morning, happy Tuesday, and many blessings.

Today let's try, not only to understand what Jesus is telling us in Matthew 5:43-48, regarding loving our enemies. But also, how we can apply this teaching to our own lives. How does God want to use these words in your life this morning? Or we might say, how does He want to speak to you through this passage?

Let me start by highlighting that there are two great themes in the Gospel of John.   First, John's Gospel is the revelation that Jesus Christ is the revealer of God. Above all, Christ reveals that he is the revealer. And second, Jesus not only reveals himself, he commands those who believe in him to love one another.

Notice that when Jesus gives some examples of how to love our enemies, forgiveness isn't one of them. He says do good to them, bless them, pray for them, offer the other cheek, give food and water to them, let them take from you, do not ask for restitution. But he doesn’t say "forgive.” Why not? The answer may be, and I’m guessing, because the abuse and violence is still going on. Consequently, you can also love your enemy while assertively standing up for personal and collective rights, including protecting yourself and others, and expressing thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in direct, honest, and appropriate ways. This is the reality of fighting for peace with justice.

When Jesus says, “Love your enemies”, who exactly does he have in mind? What do the verses themselves tell us about our enemies? What is love? If you were to ask the “Average person” on the street, what would the answer be? If you were to ask 100 people, you would probably get about 100 different answers, about 100 different definitions of what love is. In today’s world, in today’s society, you might get answers that sound like love. You might get someone to tell you being nice to other people. You might have someone tell you that love is all about physical attraction, sexual desire. Someone might say that love is when you really like someone else.

But at this moment I’m not interested in what the world has to say about love. As a follower of Christ, I want to know what God has to say about love. And two biblical verses that complement and interrelate call my attention. Both written by the same person in two writings. The Apostle whom they called the Apostle of Love, presents us with these two biblical narratives. First a very familiar one in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”  And second, one that is not familiar, in 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

It is not difficult to notice that in the context of church John 3:16 is much more accepted and we love to recite it because in it we see that Jesus died for us. But in I John 3:16 we are being asked that as disciples of Jesus we must be willing to die for our sisters and brothers. This is Love.

Look at it this way, God has never called us to hate our enemy. Now I ask you, do you agree with the definition of love that I John 3:16 gives us?: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Blessings

Fr. Luis+