Enemies?

I was chatting to a friend the other day and he was expressing his frustration and anger with some people he works with. He was talking about how nobody respected him and made him feel unwelcome. He told me that he really disliked some of them, which was unlike him. It was clear to see that he was not happy and this situation was really affecting him, causing him to become angry and resentful. After listening to him rant for a couple of minutes, I asked him a simple question.

'Do you pray for these guys?'

Up until this point, all he had talked about was himself. How he was feeling. How these people had affected his life. He was the victim and it was their fault. My friends response to the question was interesting. His face changed as he thought about what I'd said.

"I don't think I do. Maybe I should?"

Following on from my previous post (Tale of two stories), we can see that my friends inability to see outside of himself and his own story had affected the way he viewed other people. If we only look at ourselves and our own situation, emotions, feelings, then we will always be the victim, there will always be someone better than us and we will never be satisfied. My friend had lost sight of the big picture.

Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 5, which we know as the sermon on the mount. Here Jesus is laying out what the Kingdom of God is like and how we should live in the midst of that. What is clear throughout, is the kingdom of God is unlike anything we have known and seems impossible to live out (many suggest that it is without God and that's the point!). Jesus talks about who receives blessing, the Law, dealing with anger, divorce, prayer, the poor, money and possesions and so on. This is the manifesto of the Kingdom.

The part that has always challenged me and which relates to the conversation with my friend, is the teaching on loving your enemy in verses 43-48;

43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor^[h] and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies^[i] and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons 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. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This teaching is as revolutionary now as it was at the time it was said. Love your enemies? That's not normal. If people hurt us and persecute us, surely they deserve to be punished. Where is the justice? This doesn't make sense!

But in the eyes of God this makes perfect sense.

When Jesus died and rose again, he wasn't just reconciling us back to God (opening a way to the Father), he was reconciling us back to each other. It is only through the cross and the dieing to ourselves, that we can be raised with Him and experience His love for us and for others. This is His mercy and grace for us.

What is going to mark us out as followers of Jesus? What makes us different to anyone else?

The answer, sacrificial love.

Love that goes beyond feeling. That goes beyond political boundaries, beyond what the world says is the limit to what people deserve. Love that costs, but has great rewards.

We are called to love and pray for those who persecute us and those who we would call enemies. That would range from our boss in work to Osama Bin Laden and everything inbertween.

Why?

Because they need to know the love of God, just as much as you do. Because God doesn't have favourites, and neither should you. Because we are part of a story that is bigger than our own. Our life is no longer ours to own as we die to oursleves and become slaves to Christ (or bound to Him) and this is what He calls us into. We are a kingdom of priests, called to minister to the world, which means the oppressors as well as the oppressed.

It was this radical love that led Jesus to the cross.

It was this radical love and forgiveness that changed the life of a young man named Saul, who as a result of a dramatic encounter with Jesus and the obedience of a man named Ananias, understood the power of grace to the point that he dedicated his whole life to communicating this messgae of love and forgiveness to all for the rest of his life.

He would have been Ananias' (and Jesus') enemy!

It is this radical love that has changed me and many others I know.

In a world that is obsessed with individuals rights and the need to gain revenge/retribution, where are the people that will rise above that, in the grace of a resurrected Jesus, to love, serve and pray for those who wrong us, abuse us and attack us as well as those who love us? Where are the people that know their identity is in the Father and as one of His children, want to see the whole of creation restored back to Him? Where are the people with a kingdom perspective rather than a worldly perspective?

The final verse calls us to be perfect like our father, which suggests this is a hard task!

How then is it made possible?

We must first receive the love God has for us before we can think about loving others. It's His love for us that will change our hearts and it's His love in and through us that will change the world.

I am not, but I know I AM!

Ask God to show you how to best love and serve your enemies today. Ask Him to reveal His heart for them. Let's not avoid the commands of Jesus that make us uncomfortable, for it is in these that we will find life and life to the full.

Amen.