Loving Enemies

Passage: Matthew 5:43-48; Philippians 1:12-14

Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount summarizes Jesus’ most well-known and least-loved teachings. I say least-loved because the stuff Jesus tells us to do feels almost impossible. Most difficult is what Jesus tells us to do with enemies. Love ‘em. Pray for them. Seek what’s best for them and appeal to God on their behalf. Enemies are by definition people whose best interests we don’t have at heart. People whom we want God to give exactly what they deserve.

In Philippians 1, the Apostle Paul gives us a brief glimpse of Jesus’ new, love ethic in action. He writes this from a prison cell:

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.

Paul’s hope, among other things, is that even those who imprison him will come to know Jesus as Savior. Paul sees the agents of his suffering and oppression – his enemies – through a lens not of anger and hatred, but mercy and grace. How is this possible?

Because Paul is well aware that this is the way his enemy treated him. Paul began his life as Saul of Tarsus – hater of Jesus and persecutor of the church. It was when Paul was in the process of hunting down Christians that Christ came to him in person and offered him redemption. Paul articulates it this way in 1 Timothy 1:

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

Paul prays that his enemies will experience the same mercy and salvation he experienced at the hands of Jesus. Although we often think differently, we were to Jesus what Saul of Tarsus was to Jesus: natural enemies. We were to Jesus what our enemies are to us. Jesus refused to give us what we deserve. So doing Jesus ushers us in to a new reality. One in which our greatest hope is to see our enemies redeemed by the grace and love that redeemed us. One in which God’s goal for us is the fulfillment of humanity’s oldest dream: to be reconciled to God, and to one another.