Isn’t this a contradiction of terms? Isn’t what we’re supposed to do is hate enemies and love those who are our friends? Doesn’t that make more sense?
It doesn’t sound too rational. Or, maybe the rationale is that in the old saying, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,” Jesus is suggesting that in this kind of love you can help keep your enemies in check and a little off guard. It really has nothing much to do with love.
It still doesn’t make sense, like the days of my high school football career. We got a new coach my junior year, and, he was a spiritual but fiery man. I always thought it odd when we would talk all week about how we were going to “destroy” the next opponent – then say a really long prayer in the locker room about the “best man winning” (which I’m convinced to this day that the coach was insinuating that we were the berst men), and to top it off we would go out for pre-game warmups and shout “kill!” every time we clapped our hands over our heads while doing jumping jacks.
We “sort of” prayed for our opponent in the locker room, then, we declared we were going to rip them limb from limb out on the field. As a young man who loved the game of football, I found myself a little conflicted and a lot confused.
We spy on our enemies (and on our friends, or so most recent news reports are saying), and have very strategic, military plans against them all. These plans include deployed men and women by the thousands, as well as a number of powerful weapons that could annihilate our enemies in a matter of minutes if not less. Our enemies are probably making the same preps for us.
There’s a lack of trust in one another. Our confidence in their holding up their end of the bargain for peace is only slightly lower than their confidence in us keeping the peace. It’s a two-way street, and, a double-edged sword.
And to throw the proverbial monkey wrench into an already complicated scenario, God tells us to love our enemies. Once again, God’s not making any sense!
In the book of Romans, even Paul says that we should feed our hungry enemies and give them something to drink when they’re thirsty. He says its like heaping hot coals upon their heads! My translation of this portion of scripture (Romans 12:20 to be exact) reads, “Kill them with kindness! If you don’t kill them, you’ll drive them crazy!”
The “Golden Rule” is a tough one to follow. We all want to be treated a certain way, but the trouble is we don’t want to reciprocate. We want to be the boss, the big cheese, the big kahuna!
The Lord suggests that the way to be “golden” is to seek humility and compassion. Love and care never fails. Oh, it might not be appreciated, or, not feel good when it’s done by us—but—in the long run, God will use it for the greater good.
Trust God’s words here, no matter how contradictory they sound. May I say that I truly believe that God knows what He’s talking about! In every instance of daily life, look for ways to be kinder, gentler, more caring. I know, sometimes it means biting really hard on an lower lip, but let’s face it—it’s better that we bite our own lip than let someone else split it. It’s not worth the energy it takes to throw the punch.
“Love…do good…bless…do not withhold…do not ask for things back…do to others as you would have them do to you…” (Luke 6:27-31)
Be this loving contradiction of terms. Be this, and the world will be a better place!
Remember—God loves you and so do we!
Pastor Jim