Some Things Don't Change

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Luke 6:27

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Luke 6:35

In this journey of deconstruction and reconstruction, there are some pieces of the house that stay steady and strong throughout the process. The inconvenient thing is that it tends to be our selfish ‘absolutes’ that get torn down and rebuilt, namely, who is in and who is out. Jesus is always working on us being more inclusive, more loving. But loving our enemies, well, that tends to remain unchanged. And it’s really, really hard work to love our enemies. Come, join Jesus on the journey! Ask for grace to do the impossible along with the Spirit’s help.

The one place ‘loving enemies’ may need some deconstructing and reconstructing is when religious leaders weaponize it agains those being abused to make them forgive their abusers - and it’s really just continuing the damage and brokenness. That’s not the way of Jesus - he’s always looking out for those on the margins, the weak, and the broken. He does not lay heavier burdens on them, but rather sets them free and encourages them to take up space and find their voice.

So today beware of two temptations. The first is to let ‘loving enemies’ be used against you (or using it against others) to keep the powerful in power and to protect the unjust - that’s contrary to the way of Jesus. The other is to try to weasel out of the hard work of loving enemies under the pretense of ‘not being sure about the teaching of Jesus on this’ - because that’s probably just you justifying your own selfishness.

Now spend some time talking to God about how to respond to his gracious and impossible and redemptive call to love enemies.