Love Your Enemies
- Twelve Corners Communications
- Oct 1
- 2 min read
Matthew 5:43-48
"You have heard that it was 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, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
I’m bad at that.
It’s not necessarily that I hate my enemies, but I find it incredibly hard to love them.
Romans 12:19-21
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
It runs counter to how I want to live to feed my enemies. It feels fundamentally unfair that when others resort to evil that we are supposed to respond with good. I struggle with this.
Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."
Is this the example that we’re supposed to live up to? Forgiving people even through their worst cruelty? I don’t know how to do this. It is an overwhelming and impossible task.
We are supposed to love our enemies. This is something that is a notably difficult aspect of living the life that God asks of us. Loving our enemies does not need to look like capitulation, surrender, permission to victimize, or allow evil to be carried out. Loving our enemies does not look like staying in close relationship with those who seek us harm. Loving our enemies is not permission for our enemies to commit all sorts of evil.
But loving our enemies is a goal to undertake. It is not something to be dismissed because it is hard or inconvenient. You can be forgiven for the sin of hating your enemies. But at the same time, God calls us to recognize that it is a sin.
We should not be proud to hate.
We should not declare vengeance as a virtue.
We should strive to love even in the worst of circumstances.
That love will look different at different times, but is something to be strived for nonetheless.
Love your enemies.
Don’t hate your opponents, if it is at all within your power. And even if it isn’t, then you still need to try.
Peace,
Rev. Jeff Fox-Kline
As we wrestle with what it means to truly love our enemies, we don’t have to do it alone. Come be part of our community this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church, where together we seek to live out God’s challenging call to love in real and meaningful ways.