5 Love your enemies…
This is the most challenging part of Jesus' teaching. But it is also the teaching that undergirds everything else.
You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy', but I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. [Matthew 5: 43, 44, NIV]
The idea of loving your neighbour is a clear part of Old Testament Law; but some scribes had added to this teaching hate your enemies as a way of softening the teaching.
The word Jesus uses for love is agape. This word, which was hardly ever used in classical Greek, is the New Testament word for the love that Jesus has for us. Agape love is not romantic love (eros) or friendship (philia) or the love of parents for their children (storge). Agape love is love which cannot be earned. It has nothing to do with whether it is deserved.
Agape love is unconditional; it is for friends and for enemies; it is steady, not fickle. Notice that to love like this is a command. It does not depend on our feelings. Agape love is about wanting the best for everybody.
Jesus says: Love your enemies… that you may be children of your father in heaven. [Matthew 5: 44 – 45, NIV]
Just as God loves, so we should love, we who are his children and share his character.
Jesus did not invite us or encourage us to be kind to people. He commanded us to love with a love like his, long after we feel it, even when the person we must love is repulsive to us. [Stephen Verney]
Lord Jesus, fill me with your Spirit so that I may love as you love. Amen.
David Long
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