“Love” and “enemy.” What does one have to do with the other?
We give love to our friends. We love the people who value us, appreciate us, respect us, or approve of us. We love people who do good to us, who serve us, who care well for our loved ones, and who are loyal to our causes.
Enemies, on the other hand, are not faraway, faceless strangers.
They are people we know who hurt us. They don’t respect us so they say mean things about us and do mean things to us. These are the people who rob us of blessings, wound the people we love, and undermine our hopes and dreams.
So our natural disposition is to show love to the people who help us and to withhold love from the people who hurt us.
This natural way is the celebrated way. In private and in public, we’re often encouraged to love those who love us and to limit expressions of love to those who hurt us.
Loving like this appeals to our sense of fairness and justice. It seems right in our own eyes to reward good behavior by showing love and discouraging bad behavior by withholding it.
But Jesus said that what seems right isn’t always right.
You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:43-44
Jesus commanded a different way to love, and his love is not limited by our feelings toward others or by their actions toward us. Jesus actually expands the definition of love to include acts of love toward unloving people. Jesus’ love puts others ahead of self even when it requires emotional, physical, or material sacrifice.
The wonder of God’s grace—his generosity toward the undeserving—is fueled by this kind of love. We all stand hopeless except for the unmerited favor of God, which moved him to “do love” toward us by sending his Son to redeem us from our sin.
We assume the enemy is someone other than us, but the Bible says that all of us were once enemies of God (Romans 5:10). So when Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, he was in fact showing us what that looked like in the way he loved us.
Jesus reconciled us to the Father through his death. He set aside privileges. He was despised and forsaken by men. He sweat drops of blood as he prayed “not my will, but yours.” He was beaten and bloodied, mocked and left to die between two thieves.
The love of God was a costly enterprise for Jesus. Yet despite what we’ve heard about loving friends and hating enemies, he said, “Love your enemies.”
This new way of love is actually the old way of love. It’s the original love conceived in the heart of the Triune Godhead, and now we are ambassadors of Christ commanded to love people who personally offend us in the same way God has loved us.
How do we love with this original kind of love?
Original love acts with generosity.
Jesus said to “do good to those who hate you” (Luke 1:27). He went on to describe giving the shirt off our backs or lending money with no expectation of repayment to the very people who seek to hurt us. He commanded open-handed generosity to our enemies.
It’s interesting that while our natural bent is to clinch our fists and self-protect when we feel threatened or attacked, Jesus called for more grace, not less. More giving, not less. More serving, not less.
Jesus said it is no credit to our faith when we love those who love us. But generosity toward the undeserving is a distinguishing mark, incontrovertible evidence of every follower of Christ.
If righteousness—seeing people made right with God—is in fact our aim, generosity will mark our lives as we lead other fellow, fallen image bearers to the Cross of Christ where they can experience the redeeming love of God.
Original love withholds retribution.
Rather than withholding love from our offender, Jesus commands us to withhold deserved retribution.
If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. Luke 6:29a
Jesus did not encourage a dismissive or caviler attitude toward physical abuse. Nor did he speak into the responsibility of the governing authorities to protect citizens and punish criminals.
Instead, he illustrated here that Christlike love toward someone who personally offends us calls us to withhold what is due. Christians don’t treat offenders like they deserve to be treated. We don’t demand repayment of what has been lost before we extend kindness.
As grace gives us privileges we don’t deserve, mercy withholds punishment we most definitely deserve.
Again, Jesus became a living picture of this principle as he withheld the armies of heaven who hovered above Pilate’s courtroom ready to carpet bomb the enemies of God.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7
Jesus’ mercy did not minimize our offense.
Mercy never passively acquiesces to the sinfulness of others. Instead, mercy aggressively clears the way for the Gospel to take root in a wayward heart. Mercy paints a vivid picture of the deep, deep love of Jesus.
Original love speaks life.
When we are offended, one of our first reactions is to speak. And our first words are powerful words. They often determine everything that happens next. They can escalate the offense or defuse it altogether.
Our words also reveal the depth of our confidence in God. Our words communicate the value we assign to other people. And our words demonstrate who we really are. So Jesus gave this simple command,
Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:28
To bless means to speak well of or to praise another person. Imagine that for a moment. A person curses you, completely disrespecting and devaluing you, and you respond by speaking well of them.
Jesus isn’t describing a trite or shallow “You’re okay, I’m okay” kind of blessing. Instead, he’s calling us, in our moment of greatest vulnerability, to look beyond the actions of another person in order to recognize their inherent worth, to elevate their faith in God, and to ask God for his best in their lives.
As full-grown, depraved men cast lots for his clothes, Jesus hung naked from the Cross and cried out,
Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing. Luke 23:34
He was in fact blessing those who cursed him. He did not speak of them according to their offense, but according to God’s redeeming love available to them. We don’t know how all of them responded to this blessing, but we know this:
When the centurion saw what happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous! ” 48 All the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, went home, striking their chests. Luke 23:47-48
Sometimes we are so eager to speak the truth in love, we forget to love and we miss the privilege of watching grown men and women, hardened sinners, turn their hearts to Jesus.
Maybe offenders don’t need to hear from us what they already know about who they are and what they’ve done. Perhaps our moment of crisis can, instead, become a megaphone declaring the truth of who they can become in Christ.
But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Luke 6:35-36
Original love will cost us, but not forever. Great reward awaits those who love offenders by passing along the grace and mercy we have received in Christ.