Love of enemies

JESUS said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

REFLECTION LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. The Gospel is the sixth antithesis in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Jesus quotes a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” then gives a new interpretation, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Love for enemies is best expressed in prayer for them. This is something radical for ancient Jewish mentality, which considers their enemies as also God’s. Thus, God threw Pharaoh and his chariots into the sea (cf Ex 15:2ff).

Jesus changes such mentality by saying that the heavenly Father “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” Those who claim to be followers of Christ should live beyond the human standards. The model of any human relationship should be that of our heavenly Father, who is perfect in loving and forgiving.

This kind of love is exemplified in Jesus’ life, passion, and death. Even as he is dying on the cross, he prays for his persecutors, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). Thus, Paul declares, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).