CrossTalk: Love Your Enemies

Last night at the Lange house we sat down to watch Macbeth, the classic play by Shakespeare. No wonder it is a classic! In a couple of hours, Shakespeare is able to engage you in thinking about some of the most profound issues of life. The major issue comes early in the play and sets the stage for all that follows.

Good king, Duncan, rewards Macbeth as a loyal subject and a favorite general. He promotes Macbeth to a high position, and loves and trusts him in every way possible. But when the king came to visit him in his castle, Macbeth murders him. What?!

“That makes no sense!” you say.  And you are right. It is just plain inhuman, unnatural, even demonic, to act in such an evil way against someone who had done nothing but good to you. It violates the most basic instinct of every man. This is morality at its core. You don't need to be taught it, it is written into the very fiber of your being. In fact, not only does anyone with the slightest humanity know this but they rather, instinctively love and cherish anyone who is kind and loving.

This is such a basic truth that Jesus talks about it in His very first sermon. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:46). Jesus points to the most unscrupulous kinds of people and shows that even they love those who love them. These are such obvious morals that they are hardly worth mentioning.

You might think that Jesus is driving towards the point that we should reach out in love to the highways and byways, beyond our little circle of friends--even the smallest and most unnoticeable. He certainly makes this point elsewhere (see Matthew 22 and Luke 14). But Jesus doesn’t say anything about that here. He is making an even bigger point.

He says, "“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.” (Matthew 5:43-45) Loving family, friends, and even strangers is just plain common sense. But Jesus brings us totally out of the realm of common sense. He would have you love your enemy -- the one who is out to do you harm.

By “love” Jesus doesn't merely mean to tolerate or to co-exist. To love is to reach out -- to go out of your way and actually do good things for your enemy. It means to value the one trying to harm you as much and even more than you value your own life. This, Jesus says, is what true sons of the Father will do. Always. Every time. Without fail. That is the Christian life; because that's Christ's life.

Jesus is truly a man. In fact, Jesus is the only true man. He shows precisely by loving us, his enemies. St. Paul summarized this point by writing, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8-9)

So, when Jesus tells you to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, don’t reject his command as unrealistic and superhuman. Rather rejoice that He is both real and truly human, and that He does it for you.