"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV)
I don't know many people outside of TV shows who have real, personal enemies. Most of us have people who annoy us, sure, but would we go so far as to call them an enemy? And yeah, we have distant enemies - people who want to destroy us for ideological, religious, or cultural reasons. But the majority of us will never encounter these people face-to-face.
I have a tendency to ignore these verses. As time goes by, however, I'm realizing more and more why that is a really bad idea.
In many ways, this is the most radical thing Jesus ever said. And he said it at a time when Israel had a lot of enemies, and most of them lived right there with them.
I like Jesus' "you have heard" statements. There was a glut of fancy sayings going around at the time. I liken it to the Calormenes in The Chronicles of Narnia, especially in The Horse and His Boy. They were constantly sprinkling 'wise' sayings into their overly formal speech, all in an effort to convince everyone that they knew more than they really did. In reality, it was borrowed wisdom. Even now, every political speech borrows rhetoric from someone who said it better before who borrowed it from someone who probably borrowed a bastardized version of someone else's words. The Pharisees were famous for their little creeds and rules. People really had heard these things before, probably ad nauseum.
Interestingly enough, however, as so often happens, what they heard was not what was originally said. They heard, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But where does that even come from? Well, the first part comes from Leviticus 19. In the midst of God's instructions to the people of Israel was an admonition to "love your neighbor as yourself." Cool. Makes sense. But what about the rest of it?
See, the Pharisees had this nasty habit of "fixing" what they considered to be ambiguous instructions. For example, let's say God had told the people of Israel not to sit in a particular style of chair for longer than two hours. It's a good rule because any longer, and that style would screw up your back. But how to enforce something like that? Well, you tell people that that style of chair is evil, an abomination in God's eyes. Also, anyone who would own a chair like that is evil. So, we ban the chair. All because of an instruction designed to help people's posture. (Yeah, it's an extreme example, but it works.)
So, God told people to love their neighbors. Makes sense. People who live together should get along. But the opposite of love is hate. And if doing one thing is good, then following it to its natural conclusion is better, right? It's natural to have a beef with someone who is against you. Even David prayed for God to kill his enemies.
(You're about to tell me that David also smashed babies' heads against rocks. I'm fully aware. Do I completely understand it? No. But I understand some of it. Continue reading.)
The Israelites lived according to the law. The whole world lived according to the law. The law is black and white. Do this. Do not do that. And according to the law, God is perfect. Man is not. It is entirely within God's character to instruct Joshua to wipe out the people of Canaan. They had no interest in following the law, and God knew that if they were left alive, they would corrupt his chosen people. (And guess what happened.)
The problem comes when you realize that man cannot in any way, shape, or form keep the entire law. It's impossible. We saw it time and again with Israel. They'd toe the line for a little while and then BAM - back to pursuing the world.
And then Jesus comes along with his "you heard" statements. "Look, you tried it this way," he says. "It ain't working. So let's do it the way it should be and could have been if you'd listened from the start."
And the way it should be? Grace.
Here's the thing about enemies. They are people. They see the sun, feel the rain, they live in the same world as you and I. They are human. And humans were created in the image of God. God loves them. So why can't we?
I will tell you right now, it won't make one bit of difference to most of our enemies if we love them or not. They won't care that we're praying for them. In fact, that may make them hate us even more. It might even make your friends hate you. I got into a Facebook discussion about the refugee crisis last year, and I found myself making the statement that even if I got a grenade in exchange for bread, I still had to offer it. It was a shattering realization. I had to decide if I actually believed that.
Love your enemy. The most terrifying enemy I can think of right now is ISIS. If they ever came after me or my family, could I show them love? Could I pray for them, knowing that they killed a family member or raped a daughter?
I believe there are such things as righteous wars. I believe there are certain people who are so dangerous to others that they should be stopped at whatever personal cost.
But it can't be done out of hatred. And that's why the second part of that verse is key. We're to pray for those who persecute us.
Why? Do those people stop persecuting us if we start praying for them? Does God change his mind and rescue us from certain death? It probably won't make any difference to the people doing the persecuting whether we pray for them or not. And God doesn't change his mind. Whatever needs to happen will happen.
But prayer isn't for the benefit of others. I like the way C.S. Lewis put it: "I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me."
We pray for those who persecute us because it helps us in turn to love them.
At the end of those verses, Jesus told us to be perfect. Another translation is to be holy. Complete sanctification. (There's a debate among Christians about whether or not it's possible to be completely sanctified in this life. Personally, I believe it is. Jesus told us to be holy by being like him, and if it wasn't possible, I don't think he would have said it. Do I think anyone has ever actually achieved this? No. But the point is to try.) Part of being perfect is reaching the point where, through Jesus Christ, we can love our enemies.
I'm still thinking on this one. Part of the point of this blog is to work out what I'm thinking by writing it down. I'm not saying it's completely theologically or doctrinally sound. But it's where my head is right now. I invite productive discourse.
I don't know many people outside of TV shows who have real, personal enemies. Most of us have people who annoy us, sure, but would we go so far as to call them an enemy? And yeah, we have distant enemies - people who want to destroy us for ideological, religious, or cultural reasons. But the majority of us will never encounter these people face-to-face.
I have a tendency to ignore these verses. As time goes by, however, I'm realizing more and more why that is a really bad idea.
In many ways, this is the most radical thing Jesus ever said. And he said it at a time when Israel had a lot of enemies, and most of them lived right there with them.
I like Jesus' "you have heard" statements. There was a glut of fancy sayings going around at the time. I liken it to the Calormenes in The Chronicles of Narnia, especially in The Horse and His Boy. They were constantly sprinkling 'wise' sayings into their overly formal speech, all in an effort to convince everyone that they knew more than they really did. In reality, it was borrowed wisdom. Even now, every political speech borrows rhetoric from someone who said it better before who borrowed it from someone who probably borrowed a bastardized version of someone else's words. The Pharisees were famous for their little creeds and rules. People really had heard these things before, probably ad nauseum.
Interestingly enough, however, as so often happens, what they heard was not what was originally said. They heard, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But where does that even come from? Well, the first part comes from Leviticus 19. In the midst of God's instructions to the people of Israel was an admonition to "love your neighbor as yourself." Cool. Makes sense. But what about the rest of it?
See, the Pharisees had this nasty habit of "fixing" what they considered to be ambiguous instructions. For example, let's say God had told the people of Israel not to sit in a particular style of chair for longer than two hours. It's a good rule because any longer, and that style would screw up your back. But how to enforce something like that? Well, you tell people that that style of chair is evil, an abomination in God's eyes. Also, anyone who would own a chair like that is evil. So, we ban the chair. All because of an instruction designed to help people's posture. (Yeah, it's an extreme example, but it works.)
So, God told people to love their neighbors. Makes sense. People who live together should get along. But the opposite of love is hate. And if doing one thing is good, then following it to its natural conclusion is better, right? It's natural to have a beef with someone who is against you. Even David prayed for God to kill his enemies.
(You're about to tell me that David also smashed babies' heads against rocks. I'm fully aware. Do I completely understand it? No. But I understand some of it. Continue reading.)
The Israelites lived according to the law. The whole world lived according to the law. The law is black and white. Do this. Do not do that. And according to the law, God is perfect. Man is not. It is entirely within God's character to instruct Joshua to wipe out the people of Canaan. They had no interest in following the law, and God knew that if they were left alive, they would corrupt his chosen people. (And guess what happened.)
The problem comes when you realize that man cannot in any way, shape, or form keep the entire law. It's impossible. We saw it time and again with Israel. They'd toe the line for a little while and then BAM - back to pursuing the world.
And then Jesus comes along with his "you heard" statements. "Look, you tried it this way," he says. "It ain't working. So let's do it the way it should be and could have been if you'd listened from the start."
And the way it should be? Grace.
Here's the thing about enemies. They are people. They see the sun, feel the rain, they live in the same world as you and I. They are human. And humans were created in the image of God. God loves them. So why can't we?
I will tell you right now, it won't make one bit of difference to most of our enemies if we love them or not. They won't care that we're praying for them. In fact, that may make them hate us even more. It might even make your friends hate you. I got into a Facebook discussion about the refugee crisis last year, and I found myself making the statement that even if I got a grenade in exchange for bread, I still had to offer it. It was a shattering realization. I had to decide if I actually believed that.
Love your enemy. The most terrifying enemy I can think of right now is ISIS. If they ever came after me or my family, could I show them love? Could I pray for them, knowing that they killed a family member or raped a daughter?
I believe there are such things as righteous wars. I believe there are certain people who are so dangerous to others that they should be stopped at whatever personal cost.
But it can't be done out of hatred. And that's why the second part of that verse is key. We're to pray for those who persecute us.
Why? Do those people stop persecuting us if we start praying for them? Does God change his mind and rescue us from certain death? It probably won't make any difference to the people doing the persecuting whether we pray for them or not. And God doesn't change his mind. Whatever needs to happen will happen.
But prayer isn't for the benefit of others. I like the way C.S. Lewis put it: "I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me."
We pray for those who persecute us because it helps us in turn to love them.
At the end of those verses, Jesus told us to be perfect. Another translation is to be holy. Complete sanctification. (There's a debate among Christians about whether or not it's possible to be completely sanctified in this life. Personally, I believe it is. Jesus told us to be holy by being like him, and if it wasn't possible, I don't think he would have said it. Do I think anyone has ever actually achieved this? No. But the point is to try.) Part of being perfect is reaching the point where, through Jesus Christ, we can love our enemies.
I'm still thinking on this one. Part of the point of this blog is to work out what I'm thinking by writing it down. I'm not saying it's completely theologically or doctrinally sound. But it's where my head is right now. I invite productive discourse.
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