"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." - Jesus (Matthew 5:43-48)
Those listening to Jesus on the side of the hill were Jews. They viewed everyone else as "gentile". They were God's chosen (see my blog on that here - http://dalesdailybible.blogspot.com/2013/07/unity-among-gods-people.html) and everyone else was not. That could set up some pretty bad attitudes among God's people. Jesus confronts this attitude head on in this section of His sermon.
The teaching of His day was "love your neighbor, hate your enemy". That is what His audience had been taught and that is how they conducted their lives. I imagine that there were some raised eyebrows at this point in His lesson. I have experienced some of that myself when preaching. :-) Jesus looks them in the eye (or in their hearts) and says, "yep, you are to love your neighbor as yourself, for sure, but I say you are to love your enemies also, those that treat you badly, love them too." What? Love my enemy? Love someone that calls me names? Love someone that seeks to harm me? That's right!
He tells us that God provides for those that we "hate" the same as He provides for those we love. God does not withhold His blessings from those that we have bad feelings towards. The evil person gets the same sunshine as the good; the bad people get the benefit of His rain just the same as everyone else. We may not like that. We might wish that the sun would only shine on His followers. But the example is that God loves everyone and so should we. (John 3:16) That doesn't mean that God is happy with everyone, for sure He isn't. But His love is universal. He hates sin, but loves the sinner. He sent His Son to die for everyone, but not everyone will choose to accept His gift... but He still loves them.
His example is what Jesus is calling us to follow. The word "love" needs to be understood here. There are numerous Greek words translated love in English. Unfortunately, the English language is woefully inadequate in the translation of these words. The word here is "agape" and means that we choose to love that person. We seek their best interest. We want good things for them. It doesn't require that we have fond feelings towards them, but it does require that we choose to seek their benefit.
For the Jew that decided to follow Jesus, it meant that those that they had called "dogs" had to be loved. It meant that they would care enough about them to tell them about Jesus. Fortunately for you and me, they listened and obeyed. How else do you explain your faith. They wrote it down. They told their neighbors. They traveled and told everyone they met. They sent missionaries to other nations and along with them, sent the love bathed message of the Savior. We must follow their example, just as they followed the Father's example.
He tells us that loving only those that love us is human nature. That kind of love has it's reward here and now, but the kind of love He calls us to has an eternal reward attached. He says that perfection follows when we have that kind of love. We will be like our Father! Complete. Mature. Perfect. His call is not always an easy one, but His call is for our benefit... always!
You have an enemy? Love them. Someone treating you badly? Pray for them. In the doing of it, you will be perfected. You will be like your Father. That my friends is an amazing promise. Claim it.
Wise or foolish?
No comments:
Post a Comment