Love For Enemies

Scripture Introduction:

So I’ll confess up front that this probably isn’t the best Mother’s Day sermon you could ever hear. I’m not going to try to make any cheesy application points. But I will say that I do believe that mothers often exemplify this text. They often model it well. And I’ll also say…and you’ll see this more in a moment…that this very may something especially important and special to say to women within our culture.

Here is what is happening in this text. This is like point #2 in Jesus’ sermon on the plain. Last week we saw his blessings and woes. What kind of disciple will you be? And on of the things he said in out text last week:

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!” That language is still very much on our mind and heart as we come to our text here this morning.

It’s pretty specific words which would have talked about followers of Jesus being kicked out of the synagogue and the temple gatherings and the cost that was going to happen for following Jesus. He is working on their perspective. Nobody would choose a life filled with being hated, excluded, reviled, spurned as evil. Unless…unless doing so was the means to something far greater. And so Jesus is encouraging them by pointing out their connection with Jesus will lead to great reward. Don’t surrender that connection. In fact let this suffering in Christ cause you to leap for joy because it’s evidence of the reward you have coming.

But this leads to a question…how should I feel about those who are doing the hating, excluding, reviling, spurning, etc.? What should I do to them?

When, on account of Jesus, people are taking away my rights, they are causing positive harm to come upon me, they are smearing my name, they are publicly slandering me, when they are making my life absolutely miserable, how should I respond.

When someone is taking away the things you hold dear, transforming your culture into something entirely unrecognizable, the ground under your feet seems to be shaking, the rug pulled out from under you, when evil people seem to be winning and ruling and the world seems to be following in that and all you are left with pain. How are you to respond?

Here is one suggestion:

Today Christianity stands at the head of this country…I pledge that I will never tie myself to those who want to destroy Christianity…We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit—we want to burn out all the recent immoral development in literature, theater, the arts and in the press…In short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess the past…few years.

Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. That was an answer in Jesus’ culture. Originally that’s actually a way of restraining evil. It’s not a tooth for a head. It’s tooth for a tooth. They hurt you in this way…you respond with an equal measure…not over the top, not revenge, not where you engage in evil. If you are going to pursue justice do it in an equal measure. But it kind of morphed into almost a command…do to others what they’ve done to you.

So will Jesus teach his disciples to do the same thing? How should they respond when they get booted from the synagogue? When the same religious leaders who will crucify Jesus…when they start bringing the disciples in for flogging…when they start taking their property....how should they respond?

Read Luke 6:27-36

That’s a little different from an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth isn’t it? Love your enemies. Someobdy once asked Mark Twain about those confusing parts of the Bible that are hard to undrestand. He responded thus:

I am not troubled by the things in the Bible which I do not understand, but I am troubled by those things which I do understand and which I find very difficult to measure up to.

This is one of those difficult passages. It’s not that it doesn’t make sense. It’s that it’s difficult. It hurts emotionally. It feels like asking too much. How can I love those who are my enemies? Not just “love them” and emotionally wish them well but actually do good to them, bless them. And his illustrations here about giving your tunic. It’s basically saying if you find yourself being made vulnerable by another then go the extra mile and give even more.

Can I tell you another reason why this passage makes me a bit nervous to preach? It’s because that quote that I read to you earlier about preserving Christian culture and burning out immorality…that was a quote from Hitler. And it’s not awful that you and I probably resonated some with them. We do want to see Christianity thrive and see immorality decrease. And so when those words stand without knowing the character of the man behind them…we might be prone to embrace them.

Evil people know how to use good words. These words of Jesus are good. They are very good. They are kind. They are loving. They are given to us by the same man who said my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

But I have witnessed these words of Jesus here in the mouth of abusers. I’ve witnessed these words upon the mantle of those perpetuating a church culture that destroys and defrauds people. What happened with Hitler is he sold them on his ideas using good words but then used them to his own twisted ends. People were sold on the idea of exterminating all that was evil within their land…they were in a frenzy on this idea…and all it took was one little step to convince people that the Jews were the problem. And then all those heated words were now attached to this new vision....and so it seemed as if putting Jews in gas chambers was pleasing to God and actually perpetuating Christianity. That’s how you end up with a Christmas tree in a gas chamber. It’s horrific.

Here is what I am attempting to say if you are in the context of evil…if you are being abused…if you are being manipulated…and it is of a particular religious variety then they will take words such as these…this call of Christ…and they will make it their own. “You must turn the other cheek. You must give me your coat. You must lend to me.” And you’ll have all this guilt and shame and feel as if this is necessary because of the words of Jesus here. To not continue in this abusive situation to not allow this other person to keep running over you is to deny the words of Jesus here.

But that is most certainly not what Jesus is saying. This is Jesus’ right. This is His call upon our lives. He is absolutely not giving us these verses…removing Himself…His relationship…His love…His care…etc. from the equation and then putting it in the hands of someone else. You don’t get to use this passage for anyone but yourself.

And it’s a process. Just as we saw with the blessings and woes. These are often muddy. They are process things. But Jesus IS saying something here. And it is a somewhat tough word. But it’s also beautiful. So what I want to do is explain here what Jesus IS saying and then we’ll close by seeing something absolutely amazing that will hopefully be deeply encouraging.

Verses 27-28 is our response to those who are persecuting us as believers. Again it goes all the way back up to that section on blessings and woes. We are to love, do good, bless, and pray for them. We could do a word study on those…but really it isn’t necessary to understand their meaning. It’s pretty clear. And you can see in verses 29-31 what this is supposed to look like.

“To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.” I think it’s probably true that slaps you in the face is a little too tame. It’s perhaps closer to “get socked in the jawbone.” But it could also be symbolic of an insult and it likely is part of their being excluded from the synagogue. It’s an action which means you don’t belong here anymore.

This is one of those places where we could go wrong in our application. If a wife is being abused her Christian response should be to keep turning that other cheek. Consider how Jesus himself rebuked the priests in John 18 when they struck him without cause.

So what is it saying. It’s saying that for the cause of Christ we should not retaliate but be willing to suffer humiliation again and again and again. 1 Peter 2:23 is a good picture of this. Jesus didn’t return those strikes with a blow to the face but he entrusted himself to him who judged justly. That means that he entrusted Himself to the proper authority.

Someone takes away your cloak give them your tunic as well. What is going on here? Your cloak is an outer garment and the tunic is worn over the waist. So what he’s saying here is that if somebody is going to take your coat offer your shirt as well. If someone is going to make you vulnerable…take your stuff be willing to be made even more vulnerable.

Give to everyone who begs…and if a thief takes your goods don’t demand them back. What is this saying? Well if you have a box of Fruit Gushers in your house…6 packs…and you’ve been waiting for that all day long. You’ve put your name on it. And somebody takes it. You probably aren’t going to call the police. You aren’t treating them like a thief. But if somebody you don’t know comes in and takes that you might be more inclined to call the police. What Jesus is saying here is that it all belongs to him…so we don’t demand stuff back. Treat everyone like you would a family member. Be ready to forgive debts.

The Golden Rule. This kind of turns that eye for an eye thing on its head. Do to others what you would want them to do to you. Kindness. Forgiveness. How much different would this be?

Earlier spoke of abuse. Someone who has endured much abuse. I want to share her words:

This is just me: I am not speaking for any other Survivor here. But I take this passage as a Holy calling to love my abusers the way Christ love me. Practically speaking, when it’s healthy for my mind to think on it, I pray for the good of my abusers and their enablers. But this Is with a different understanding of “their good” than what culture typically teaches us. When we say we want God to bless people we think that means for him to affirm them as they are in their actions and give them rewards for who they are. But I believe when God truly blesses Someone, he is granting his presences and work in their life. So when I ask God to do good to my abuser I’m asking him to convict them of their sin, to walk gently with them in the midst of facing their consequences, and to do His work in their life that they might be redeemed.

That’s beautiful. This is what Jesus calls us to. Not to retaliation. Not to vengeance. Not to fighting for our rights.

At this point I’m almost tempted to use an illustration with Gandhi or MLK. And you’d say, “see how this non-violent resistance” actually works. And I think you could even use those in the New Testament and the early disciples of Jesus as an example too. As they followed Jesus in this way eventually folks began to accept the gospel more.

But I want you to notice something. Look at

Hebrews 10:34 ESV

For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

That’s how the early church applied this verse. But notice what motivated them...”a better possession…an abiding one...” Notice what is the motivation here…look at verse 35.

32-34 you aren’t giving because you think you might get something out of it. You aren’t laying down your life because you think it might be the path to blessing. But why…verse 35…”your reward will be great…sons of the Most High”.

Reward in God.

You’ll look like your Father

So what motivates us? How do we do this? Because of our future we can love our enemies in the present. Yes, loving them means saying things like Hannah Kate. It might mean reporting our abuser to the authorities. It might mean not putting up with their narcissistic abuse. Or it might mean dropping the matter altogether. It might mean just letting it go. Covering it in love. Responding with love and grace and mercy and just an abundance of blessing upon someone who has mistreated you. Application is probably different but the heart is the same. “I want your good”

Why also?

Because of who God is...

So this is where I want to close. Jesus isn’t asking us to do something that He himself doesn’t do.

For he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Now when you read that don’t think about “them”. That’s you and I. While yet sinners...

Romans 5:8–10 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

When you and I were rebelling against God he wooed us to Himself. He caused the rain to water and the sun to shine upon us. He gave us blessings and gifts. Even things that we used to further our rebellion towards Him. And he kept lavishing kindness.

But let’s also consider those verses about giving and expecting nothing in return. Jesus is saying that reflects the heart of God. (Certainly nothing we say here should contradict what Jesus said in the parable of the talents) but God is a lavish giver. He’s not giving you things for his own benefit. He’s not expecting to get back the same amount. He’s not an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” type of God.

He is merciful.

Always met with grace upon faith and repentance. Gives us grace and mercy as we wrestle and struggle through this stuff. God is really good and kind. What would it mean for you to believe that?