“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.29 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. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6.27-31
“But to you who are listening,” Jesus says. Many were hearing, but not all were listening. (It’s kind of like when my wife Lane tells me something while I’m distracted—I hear her words, but I don’t always catch the message!)
Jesus wants us not only to hear but to truly listen and then do what He says. And the most important thing He tells us is this: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” In all honesty, that sounds utterly ridiculous. Who does that? Who cares for people who hate them? Who loves those who hurt them?
Yet it’s in the loving, the giving, and the doing that we ourselves are made whole. Maybe loving our enemies isn’t primarily for their sake—it’s for ours. Just as unforgiveness festers inside us and tears us apart, refusing to love those who oppose us ends up hurting us far more than it hurts them.
Jesus continues, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” That’s really hard when it’s happening to you! Turn the other cheek. Give to anyone who asks. If someone takes what belongs to you, don’t demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Jesus is asking us to do the impossible. Right now I can think of people I no longer speak to—not because I’m unwilling to forgive, but because they are. It’s not my job to change them or make them alter their perception of me. My job is to love, to bless, and to pray for those who just can’t stand me! (It sounds crazy, I know.) But here’s the truth: the Spirit of God living in me can do anything—including transforming me to become more like Jesus.
When Jesus hung on the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” and then He breathed His last. Jesus—the Savior of the world, nailed to a cross by the very people He came to save—forgave them. Can we do any less?
“O Lord God, You are good. I love You and praise Your name. You are good and faithful. Come now, Holy Spirit—fill me with Your love so that I might be like You in all things. For You are good, and Your love endures forever.” Amen.