Lest we misunderstand these words, we should start by defining two terms. First, what is an enemy? It’s probably not what you think. When most people think of an enemy, they think about a person they do not like. That gets things backward. Enemies intend to do you harm whether you like them or not.
Your feelings about a person are completely beside the point. If you happen to dislike someone who hasn’t done anything evil to you, that says more about you than about him. Jesus expects everyone to know better than that. So, He doesn’t even address it here. He only wants to talk about your attitude toward those who are intent on hurting you.
As for those who are good to you, it takes no special gift and no special faith to like them. Jesus says, "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:32).
The second term we must clarify is the word “love.” Love is not passive, but active. It is not merely to refrain from revenge, or to suppress your feelings of rage. Neither can it simply ignore someone who bothers you. Love goes way beyond tolerance. It involves action. Love goes out of its way to do good.
St. Paul teaches this in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful... Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
Because love requires that you involve yourself with a person to do positive good, it cannot be faked or forced. When Jesus says, “love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return,” He calls us to a live of genuine love, care, concern and kindness.
If you thought loving your enemy was a little over the top to start with, by now you will really be scratching your head. Loving your enemy is not anything that you can achieve. It can only be a gift from God.
Loving your enemy can only begin when the One whom you have treated like an enemy loves you. Every sin, every rebellion against God, every rejection of his will for your life treats Jesus as an enemy. Yet, even though we have so treated Christ, he does not respond by hating us back.
The truth is, “[w]hile we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). How can this fact not melt our hearts? God, in Christ, has done for you the very thing that Jesus calls Christians to do. He has loved those intent on doing Him harm.
He does this not because you have first done him well, not because you have first promised to amend your ways, not because you were less evil than someone else, but purely because you needed His love.
There is only one way to thank Him for this undeserved kindness. That is, to receive His love and forgiveness in humble repentance. When you thus receive Him in faith, He gives you "the right to become Sons of God" (John 1:12).
When God the Father makes you His son by adoption and faith, He gives you a heart like the heart of Jesus. Then, and only then, do you love your enemies “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:45).