Will They Know We Are Christians Part 2: Loving Your Enemy

 

We have become such a nasty society that the notion of loving your enemy is truly revolutionary.  And yet so rare.  More satisfying to dunk on others and then bask in the accolades of your fellow tribe members, right?

As with many commands in the Bible, "love your enemy" is both more aspirational and more freeing than we can hardly fathom.  Grudges, grievances, and animosity existed in the days Jesus first uttered this phrase.  And, in a less civilized time, it wasn't out of the question that violence and even death might ensue.  It was a brutish, dangerous time.  Kill or be killed, no?  But Jesus offered a completely different path.

Don't get me wrong: true love must have an aspect of hate to it.  Love does not mean tolerating what is intolerable, or laying down in the face of what needs to be stood up against.

But love has room to love, pray for, wish well of, and do good to those who oppose us.  It is simultaneously a heavy burden and a lightening of burden to strive to do so.  Heavy because our instincts are usually not so charitable.  Light because hatred for others is an unnecessary weight to carry around.

Loving those who love us is hard work because love is hard work.  But we put in the work because it is joyous.  Loving those who hate us is also hard work.  But there is joy there too.  We needn't be weighed down by meeting hate with hate.  And we can hold out hope that our love can be used to change others for the better.  What an amazing opportunity, even and precisely because this form of love is so rare these days.  

It may be a lonely road but it is ultimately a satisfying one.  We take our cues from who loved to the end, even as that love was met with accusation, condemnation, abandonment, and execution.  May we be similarly sustained to love at all times, including our enemies.