(Rough notes of a sermon I preached on Sunday, at a Wesleyan Methodist Church in Melbourne. Rowland).

LOVING ONE’S ENEMIES

Matthew 5:38-48

The preacher’s Sunday sermon was “Forgive Your Enemies” She asked, “How many have forgiven your enemies?” About half held up their hands. She repeated the question, now about 80% raised their hands. She repeated the question again, all raised their hands except one elderly lady.

“Mrs. Jones, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?”

“I don’t have any” she responded.

“Mrs. Jones, that is very unusual. How old are you?” “Ninety-three” she replied.

“Mrs. Jones, would you please come forward and explain to the congregation how a person cannot have an enemy in the world.”

The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, and said: It’s easy. I just outlived them all!”

~~

A knight and his men return to their castle after a long hard day of fighting.

“How are we faring?” asks the king.

“Sire,” replies the knight, “I have been robbing and pillaging on your behalf all day, burning the towns of your enemies in the west.”

“What?!” shrieks the king. “I don’t have any enemies to the west!”

“Oh, no…” says the knight. “Well, you do now.”

~~

If you had to summarize the key teachings, indeed the most radical concepts Jesus brought us, they can be found in Luke 11:42: ‘Justice and love’.

Social justice is the strong helping the weak, not exploiting the weak, strengthening the legal system towards fairness for all. ‘God has a bias towards the poor’ and Jesus incarnated that bias.

Love in its purest form is the relationship of subject to object which creates worth in the object, rather than responding to worth in the object. This love is a gift to all others, whether or not that love is returned, or in spite of the one loved hating the loving one.

Our text, says William Barclay, has the highest concentration of the Christian ethic of interpersonal relations of any in the New Testament. Everyone knows Jesus enjoined love-of-enemies – even those who will have nothing to do with the church (‘and they very often condemn the professing Christian for falling so far short of its demands’).

Matthew 5:38-42: The Ancient Law

Jesus cites the oldest law in the world – an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth – the ‘Lex Talionis’. It’s mentioned three times in the OT and might seem harsh at first glance. However, as William Barclay points out in his commentary on this passage, it was actually a merciful law: its aim was the limitation of vengeance in a tribal society which often operates on the principle of ‘pay back’, where vengeance is inflicted indiscriminately on members of another tribe. Further a private individual could not exact vengeance: it had to be decreed by a judge. Another important point: this ancient law was rarely carried out literally: what if the first eye knocked out was blind for example? And finally, this law does not sum up the whole of OT ethics. ‘You shall not avenge or bear any grudge against the children of your people’ (Leviticus 19:18); ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if thirsty offer a drink’ (Proverbs 25:21).

Then Jesus lays down four ‘kingdom rules’: don’t seek retaliation for insults; you don’t have to stand on your legal or other ‘rights’; don’t ‘do as you like’ but do what is helpful to others; and be generous.

Matthew 5:43-48: Christian Love

In Greek there are four different words for love:

[1] storge – family love, the love of parent for child and child for parent

[2] eros – ‘love of a man for a maid’, romantic/sexual love

[3] philia – ‘the warmest and the best Greek word for love’ – real love/affection between best friends

[4] agape – the word used here – is the unconquerable love of others in spite of anything they might do to us, always seeking nothing but their highest good.

(1) WHAT LOVE IS THIS?

So ‘agape’ love for enemies is not the same as the love we have for our ‘nearest and dearest’: it’s a different kind of love. The first three kinds of love we can’t help (hence the expression ‘falling in love’ for eros): but agape love comes from our hearts and wills. It’s not just a feeling, but a choice. It’s the power to choose to love even those we don’t like, and who do not like us. This love, all the Christian spiritual masters tell us, is a gift from God which overcomes our natural tendency towards anger and bitterness.

But agape doesn’t tolerate anything which might harm the other: agape love by a parent doesn’t allow the child to get away with whatever might harm them. Indeed agape love sometimes issues in discipline, to make the other a better person. Only four broad categories of people, says C S Lewis, have the right and responsibility to exercise discipline towards the healing/wholeness of the other – the parent, teacher, magistrate and surgeon. So we must emphasize that any punishment must not be merely retributive, but remedial.

This love of enemies mainly deals with people close to us and known to us, in the teaching of Jesus. Whether and how it also extends to the international situation – between nations – in terms of war/pacifism – is a matter of debate, of course.

It’s also a matter of debate as to whether only a Christian – a follower of Jesus – can love like this. The wisdom of the best spiritual masters is that such love comes from God, whether a person acknowledges that fact or not. ‘All love is from God’ – 1 John ? ?

(2) WHY LOVE LIKE THIS?

Why does Jesus command us to love our enemies and treat them with unconquerable benevolence and invincible good will? Because God is like this; and loving like this makes us like God.

Jesus says God’s benevolence extends to all: God makes the sun rise on the good and the evil; God sends rain to the just and the unjust. Barclay quotes Rabbi Joshua ben Nehemiah: ‘Have you ever noticed that the rain fell on the field of A, who was righteous, but not on the field of B, who was wicked? Or that the sun rose and shone on Israel, who was righteous, and not upon the Gentiles, who were wicked? God causes the sun to shine both on Israel and on the nations, for the Lord is good to all.’

There is a rabbinic tale about the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. When the Egyptians were drowned, so the story runs, the angels began a paean of praise, but God said sorrowfully ‘The work of my hands are sunk in the sea, and you would sing before me?’

God does not take pleasure in the destruction of any creatures. ‘The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing’ (Psalm 145:15).

Jesus says we love like this ‘so that we may be children of our Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5: 45). The idea being a ‘son of’ or ‘daughter of’ someone is that we become like our parent: in this case we become ‘godlike’. And this is the key to one of the most difficult texts in the NT: ‘Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’. On the face of it this sounds impossible: who is able to be perfect? The Greek word here is ‘teleios’, and was used by the Greeks in a special way. ‘It has nothing to do with what we might call abstract, philosophical, metaphysical perfection. A lamb which is fit for a sacrifice to God – without blemish – is “teleios”. An adult who is fully grown is “teleios” in contrast to a half-grown child. A student who has reached a mature knowledge of their subject is “teleios” as opposed to a learner who is just beginning [their studies]. To put it another way, the Greek idea of perfection is *functional*. The thing is perfect if it fully realizes the purpose for which it was planned, designed, made. Indeed that meaning is in the derivation of the word. “Teleios” is the adjective from the noun “telos” – an end, a purpose, an aim, a goal. Something is “teleios” if it realizes the purpose for which it was planned; humans are perfect in this sense if they realize the purpose for which they were created and exist in this world’ (William Barclay, Commentary on Matthew, St Andrew Press, p. 176).

Let’s say there’s a screw loose in something in your home. You pick up a screwdriver which fits the head of the screw, and tighten it. That screwdriver is “teleios” – it fulfils the purpose for which you have it and use it.

This is clear right at the outset of the biblical drama. God makes humans ‘in our image, after our likeness’ (Genesis 1:26). The reason we were created is to be like God. And as God desires the highest good for everyone, so must we. The whole teaching of the Bible is that we realize the purpose of our existence when we are becoming most like God. And the hardest context for all that is when we have enemies who want to do us in, but we love them as God loves them; we forgive them because that’s God’s desire too.

(3) HOW CAN WE LOVE LIKE THIS?

3-1 DEVELOP A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY ABOUT GOD!

Does God love the Devil?

3-2 RECOGNIZE THAT ALL HUMANS ARE MADE IN GOD’S IMAGE

Even our enemies!

3-3 FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST

Our Lord Jesus Christ has shown us the ultimate example of love for one’s enemies, both in general and in particular. The Lord forgave those who committed the most evil deed in the world – who crucified Him on a cross, and in such forgiveness the Lord revealed the greatest love. But on a larger scale the Lord also revealed the greatest love for us, sinners, by taking upon Himself the sins of the whole world, and that means our sins, too. Sins are God’s enemies, because they go against the goodness and perfection of God’s creation, and thus the Lord showed love for His enemies, i.e. our sins, by erasing them through His sacrifice on the cross.

And in this sacrifice on the part of our Saviour we find the key to loving one’s enemies. What is the key? Humility. Absolute humility, complete suppression of one’s pride, a complete rejection of one’s ego. Why is it difficult for us to love our enemies? Solely because of pride. We think to ourselves: how can I love someone who does not see my merits, does not understand what a wonderful person I am? How will I do good unto someone who does not value my precious gesture?

3-4 EMULATE THOSE ALREADY DOING IT

Around about the time that Jesus was born, the patriarch (or head Rabbi) of Jerusalem was a great sage named Hillel. He was a very holy and learned man, famous for his wisdom, and for the patience and respect that he showed to great and poor alike. One day a Greek philosopher, who considered Hillel to be an enemy both to his religion and to his culture, made a bet with one of his friends that he could make the great Hillel lose his temper. The way he tried to do that was to find out what time the Patriarch had his bath each day, and then at that very time come storming into the house claiming that he had to see Hillel because of a great emergency. Once Hillel emerged, cold and dripping wet, he would ask him a foolish question, like “Why do so many Babylonians have bald heads?” or “Why do Africans have such wide feet?”. He did this day after day, but Hillel refused to get angry. He simply said “You ask an important question”, thought for a moment or two, and then gave the man his answer. This happened day after day, until finally the Greek gentleman lost his temper and cursed Hillel, saying “You made me lose my bet that I could make you lose your temper”. Hillel replied “Better that you should lose your bet than that I should lose my temper”. There and then the Greek man offered to convert and adopt Judaism – but only if Hillel could teach him the whole law whilst standing on one foot. Now that would have stumped most people, but Hillel just thought about it for a moment, lifted up one foot, and said “Do not do to others what is hateful to you. That is the whole of the law – the rest is just commentary”. The Greek chap went away in disgust. It is just possible that Hillel was still in office, although he would have been a very old man, when Jesus and his family visited the temple when the boy was 12 years old. Jesus had wandered off on the day that they were supposed to go home, and his family thought that he was lost, but then they found him sitting in the temple discussing life, the universe and everything with the teachers of the law. And so maybe it is not a coincidence that one of the best known teachings of Jesus – which many people know as the ‘golden rule’ – is the same as one of the best known teachings of the patriarch Hillel; “Treat others the way you want to be treated – Do not do to others what is hateful to you – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Both men are remembered not only for teaching the Golden rule, but also for putting it into practise in their lives, and many scholars think that there must have been a link; that Jesus learnt from Hillel when he visited Jerusalem, or that the teaching of Hillel, although it was somewhat controversial, was sufficiently widely known that Jesus could hear of it, and come down firmly on the side of agreeing with this teaching, and making it part of his own. One of the most unfortunate things about the history of our religion is that within just a couple of generations from the time of Hillel and Jesus, Jews and Christians moved from being siblings – brothers and sisters who worshipped the same God, but believed slightly different things about God – to being enemies, hating each other with a hatred which has lasted most of the past 20 centuries, and which is going to take a lot of time and effort and goodwill to turn around in the 21st century. Even at the time the Scriptures of the New testament were being written, a clear anti-Jewish bias is beginning to emerge, and by the time we get to writers of the fourth century the deterioration in relationships between Christians and Jews can be seen in almost every document of each faith. In medieval times there was a clear hatred between Jews and Christians, but there was one significant difference. With just a very few exceptions, there are no recorded incidents of violence, and few even of discrimination, by Jews against Christians. On the other hand, it was Christian hatred of Jews which was behind the expulsion of the Jews from England by king Edward I in 1290, the persecutions of the Spanish inquisition, the pogroms in Russia in the 19th century and the holocaust in Nazi occupied Europe in the 20th century. I am not saying that we as Christians share the blame for those things, because we clearly don’t. What I am saying is that the rhetoric which was used to justify those crimes against humanity was, in a large part, the rhetoric of the New Testament and other Christian writings which have expressed hatred and violence towards the Jews.

3-5 DISCIPLINE: Eg. Taming the tongue. This came into my email inbox this week: My Name Is Gossip.I have no respect for justice. I maim without killing. I break hearts and ruin lives I am cunning and malicious & gather strength with age.

The more I am quoted the more I am believed. I flourish at every level of society.

My victims are helpless.They cannot protect themselves against me because I have no name and no face.

To track me down is impossible The harder you try, the more elusive I become.

I am nobody’s friend.

Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.

I topple governments and ruin marriages. I end ministries set up by God.

I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights, heartache and indigestion. I spawn suspicion and generate grief.

I make innocent people cry in their pillows. Even my name hisses.

I AM CALLED GOSSIP.

Church gossip

Office gossip

Shop gossip

Party gossip

Telephone gossip

Online gossip

I make headlines & headaches!

Before You Repeat A Story,

Ask Yourself…

IS IT TRUE?

IS IT FAIR?

IS IT NECESSARY?

WOULD I WANT IT DONE TO ME?

3-6 PRAY FOR YOUR ENEMIES If we offer prayers for those who grieve and offend us, then our prayers for ourselves will also be heard. Whenever anyone prays against his enemies or those who have offended him in any way, those are words not of man, but of the devil.

We must pray for our enemies, no matter how grievously they offend us. If we do not do so, we will perish. To pray to God for harm to befall one’s enemies is to offend God.

The Lord wants us to be meek towards those who sin against us, to forget their sins, to earn forgiveness of our sins by forgiving theirs.

Let us say not only to God: “Forgive our trespasses,” but let each one of us also say to himself: “Let us forgive our brethren who trespass against us.”

Saint John Chrysostom

3-7 BOTTOM LINE: WE CAN’T REALLY LOVE GOD IF WE DON’T LOVE OTHERS

‘YOU LOVE GOD JUST AS MUCH, AND NO MORE, THAN YOU LOVE THE PERSON YOU LOVE LEAST’.