' “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 sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 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, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.'
Matthew 5:43-48 ESV
'“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.'
Matthew 5:7 ESV
If you were to ask me what I think is the most difficult teaching Jesus commands in his ministry, it would be the above verses, found in his famous Sermon on the Mount. It is an unusual command because it flies in the face of everything we know and feel as humans. Someone wrongs us, and we think, “How dare he!” or “I’ll get him back!” But the average person never once stops to say, “I hope good things happen to him,” or even more so, “I love him.” It’s preposterous! But that is not the crux of what is happening here. It is here that Christ is teaching us not just forgiveness, but mercy. It is interesting that, also in this chapter—just before, actually—Jesus gives us the Beatitude about mercy in verse 7. In the Koine Greek, the word used for “mercy” in verse 7 is ‘ελεος, which is “compassion.”
Compassion is the antithesis of contempt and the doormat to mercy.
This is a reflection, then, of the love that God pours out for his creation; it is the picture of his hope for a world that has forsaken him. He wants us to be more like him: to love our enemies the way He loves us, a love rich with compassion. We are all sinners; we all deserve a fate far more than we are given, and if He loves us despite our hate and transgression, then certainly we who are much less than He must forgo our strife and love one another.
The story of the Gospel is so deeply rooted in the teachings of loving your enemy. Throughout the Bible are stories of men and women cursing and rejecting God. Put frankly, we were enemies of God; we are deserving of wrath, but He loved us still enough that we may now stand and say that we are covered by His saving blood. Jesus is teaching us here not only how we should live as His followers, but how God the Father loves so compassionately His creation. We must remember this when it feels impossible to love our enemies or like our enemies don’t deserve our love—that He loves us, and that we did not deserve it.
Are there difficult people in your life? How does Jesus see them? How would Jesus treat them? What does He want for their lives? How can you act as he would? I implore you to pray this morning for the ones who antagonize you, pray in thanksgiving, and pray today for eyes of compassion. Practice today with a small prayer: Father God, you are good. I pray today for ____ that you watch over their heart and spirit. I pray that you bless them today. So be it and let it be. Amen.
To Him be the power, the glory, and the kingdom forever.
So be it and let it be.
Amen.