'Jesus said: Love your enemies.’ Luke 6:27
Friends, today’s gospel contains one of the most challenging teachings of Jesus. One that we don’t like to think about. First let’s take a brief look at what most Christians think. If you think being a Christian is all about attending church, being faithful, taking communion, doing good as best as you can.then think again! Some people think being a Christian doesn’t involve worship as a family. They say “I am a Christian but I don’t need to go to church. I’m a good person and I give to charity and I’m a decent person,”think again! Jesus calls us to follow him and be kind and generous; yes. And St Paul lists the nine gifts of the Spirit that all Christians should aspire to in his letter to the Galatians love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Well, if I can do all that, (people say) then I must be doing everything demanded of me as a Christianwell, think again! The gospel reading is there to shock and to remind us, that there is something else that we ought to be doing, and it’s something that many people - many Christians actually - don’t like to talk about and certainly don’t want or intend to do!
"Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who ill treat you!" Wow, I mean, come on Jesus, you’re kidding right!? Surely not? Isn’t our whole justice system based on retribution or at the very least - redress? Many people either fall away from their faith or ignore this passage because it is just too much to accept. Jesus, why did you have to throw a spanner in the works!? Most Christians will claim that “I was alright Jack” up to this point. Before we look more closely into this, did Jesus practice what he preached? Let’s examine his record. He often ate with tax collectors, the sinners of his day; the enemy of the people because they collaborated with the occupying Romans. He was vilified by the Pharisees for it, but calmly rebuffed their condemnation by saying that it is the sick that need a doctor not the healthy. When they brought an adulterous woman to him, they expected him to condemn her to death as was the expected punishment, but he forgave her and sent her on her way. The ultimate example was when the soldiers struck Jesus on the cheek and ripped the coat and shirt off his back; and then they nailed him to the cross, he went on loving and forgiving. Could you? How many churches, let alone communities, live by the example of Jesus? Who do you know will give and give again despite being rejected or insulted or beaten. How many people do you know who love their enemies, do YOU love your enemies!?
I’ve known people who haven’t spoken to a relative or a former friend for years and years, because they said something, or did something that they could never forget. We all know someone like that don’t we.or even closer to home maybe? Why does Jesus have to throw this unpalatable command into his teaching? Can’t we just carry on as we are, being kind to our friends, helping them out when they need it, lend some money to them or inviting them to your birthday party because you went to theirs? Jesus spells it out unequivocally: “what credit is it to you if you love those who love you? And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?” In other words, what you are doing is just tit-for-tat, and only what would be expected, and Jesus goes on to say, even sinners do that! This isn’t making us feel any better is it!? Often we fall out with someone as I said earlier and we can’t forget what they did and so don’t have anything to do with them anymore. Jesus has the answer again, as unpalatable as it may sound. Do not condemn, do not judge, show forgiveness. In other words, forgive and forget as we say. How many of us say we have forgiven someone but we never forget. I’ve been guilty of that I admit, and I’m guessing I’m not alone in that aspect? The whole idea of loving someone who has done you wrong, of forgiving them and even helping them out, is so counter-cultural isn’t it!? Why does it never seem to be enough for Jesus!? If someone does us wrong, we want to get our own back, and if we can’t, we disown them and tell all our friends not to trust so and so. We always argue from the moral high ground We are right, so they must be wrong.
Sometimes, it takes a third party to bring people together in these situations. Could you be that person? In my ministry I came across two people who obviously had an intense dislike for each other and would call them to me every chance they got. I discovered that one of them had sent an email to the other and that person took offence and so didn’t speak to them anymore. So I got them both together and said, we need to sort this out. “well, one said indignantly, I didn’t like what you put in that email. You said this and that and I was offended.” “Oh, no, replied the other person. “I didn’t mean that, what I meant waswhatever.” I’m so sorry that you thought I meant something else.” And that was the end of that! They became good friends again. Jumping to the wrong conclusions is a common mistake we all make from time to time. And as Jesus said, do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.I know some people will think that what Jesus said is too much to bear. But as Jesus went on to say, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do unto others as you would have them do to you". Perhaps that is something we don’t really consider when we are at odds with someone. Mercy. Jesus often had mercy on people he met. We know about forgiveness and hopefully we practice it. But mercy? How often have we found ourselves in the right, justified in dealing out righteous punishment, but have shown mercy instead of vengeance? In our Old Testament reading, David had the perfect chance to kill Saul who was after killing him. But he didn’t, instead he showed mercy. Jesus is asking us to think beyond our natural human instincts to “get even” or not letting go of the wrong done to us. It’s human nature.but Jesus wants us to think beyond that and above that, to a spiritual nature, a perfect nature. But like the ten commandments, we can never keep them all, all the time. We must try and keep on trying.
Finally, I want to share with you something that was said to me which may help you to make this teaching of Jesus a little more relative and possible. When I was appointed Vicar at St Peter’s, I had an interview with the bishop and I was asking what I should do with those who might oppose me for whatever reason or might argue with me. He said, “Remember this Peter, not everybody will agree with you and some may not take to you, and my answer to your concerns is, “You don’t have to like them, but you do have to love them!” I pass that pearl of wisdom onto you, because at various times in our lives, we won’t like everybody all the time, but as Jesus commands: we have to love our enemies as much as we love our friends. Amen (from Fr Peter).