Matthew 5:43-48
Love without Limits
Did you know your body is not designed to carry anger for very long? Now don’t get me wrong: anger is a helpful emotion. It tells you something is terribly wrong. But God designed your body to resolve anger as quickly as possible and to move on. Resentment and bitterness eat at our soul. They cause our bodies to age prematurely. So how can we get better at forgiving our enemies and even wishing them well? That’s what Jesus addresses next in his famous Sermon on the Mount.
He starts by quoting the common thought of the day, a strange combination of scripture and custom. He says, in verse 43, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” Well, the first part—“love your neighbor”—is straight from scripture. Way back in Leviticus 19:18, part of the Jewish Torah, the first five books of the Bible considered most sacred and honored, God says, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus later quotes this as one of the two greatest commandments: to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40). This is right from God.
But the second half of the phrase, “Hate your enemy” – you won’t find in scripture. It’s not there. I looked! About the closest you’ll find is part of a psalm of David, Psalm 139:21-22: “Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.” Here David is using the pledge of loyalty customary for a king of that time period: “Your friend is my friend, and your enemy is my enemy.” He is saying, God comes first.
But the lead religious people of Jesus’ day had taken this verse and run with it to conveniently suggest, “Love those who love you, and hate those who hate you.” Or, “Love people who are just like you, and feel free to hate people who are different from you.” They were mixing their own natural desires and feelings with what God’s word says, which prompted Jesus at another time to address who exactly is our neighbor? The answer: anyone in need. Think the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37).
In our passage today, Jesus says, “Let me show you God’s intent: that you love everyone, including your enemies.” Now I heard about a pastor who was preaching on this text, and he took a survey and said, “How many of you have enemies?” Well, practically the whole church raised their hands. Then he said, “Is there anyone who has no enemies at all?” One hand went up in the back. And the pastor called on the old man and said, “Well done, sir! How is it that you have not a single enemy?” The old man responded, “I outlived them all!”
Well, that’s not the only way to work your way out of enemies. Jesus gives us some tips here. First, in verse 44, he says, “Pray for them!” In one of my churches I had a person that crossed me at every turn. It got worse and worse. Now I’m not recommending this kind of prayer, but I prayed, “Lord, this guy’s had a full life. Why don’t you bring him home? He’s not serving any good on this earth anymore.” That’s not exactly a prayer that will move you toward reconciliation. (And I promise not to pray that for you!) But you know, God takes us where we are. And thank God, he doesn’t leave us there. Over time, I was able to soften my prayers for this person and to realize that a lot of his hateful actions came from his poor health and his broken family relationships with his adult kids, and I actually came to pity him, to feel some compassion, which is a true sign that forgiveness is taking root. And praise God, we later parted on peaceful terms.
So, if you’re having trouble loving your enemy, first start by praying for them. Try to pray good things for them, not necessarily that God will remove them from the planet. But if that’s all you have, start there. And maybe, like me, God will work on your heart through your prayers.
You know, this thing about loving your enemies shouldn’t have been so shocking to Jesus’ listeners. Their Bible, the Old Testament, contains verses such as these: Exodus 23:4-5 - “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.” Proverbs 25:21-22 - “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.” Presumably, acting with unexpected and undeserved grace opens up the door to possible reconciliation.
And it also points to God’s perfect love for us, even though we don’t deserve it. There is no reason God should love us, no cause. And so it is with our enemies. There is no cause, but God wants us to do it anyway, to reflect his love. Jesus gives a couple of illustrations from creation to point out how God loves everybody. Jesus notes how the sun shines and the rain pours on the good and the bad indiscriminately. Theologians call this “common grace,” the idea that everyone experiences God’s love. The weather doesn’t discriminate, and we shouldn’t either. We should love equally, both our friend and our enemy.
Jesus says, if you only love those who love you, you’re no better than a publican or tax collector. Tax collectors were Jews who forced their fellow Jews to pay heavy taxes to the occupying Roman government. Their fellow Jews considered them traitors. Interestingly, the fellow who recorded the scripture we’re reading today—Matthew—used to be a tax collector before Jesus called him as a disciple. You can just see him cringing in the crowd as Jesus uses this example. Jesus also mentions the pagans, the unbelievers among them. Jesus says, if you only talk to your own people, you’re no different than any unbeliever out there.
I don’t know if you realize this or not, but Christianity is a radical faith. Jesus calls us to do the impossible: to love the unlovely, to literally love without limits. And this is more than a sentimental Valentine’s Day type of love. Notice the action words Jesus uses; he wants us to pray for and to greet our enemies. The King James version adds “to bless those who curse you, to do good to those who hate you.” The Spirit-filled Life Bible comments, “Love is not a matter of sentiment alone, but practical concern, blessing, prayer, and positive wishes for well-being, extended to friend and enemy alike.”
Listen, folks, this doesn’t come naturally. You need the power of God for this kind of love. And that’s Jesus’ point. Look at his summary conclusion in verse 48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” What? We have to be perfect? No chance. I’m not going to make it! The Greek word here for “perfect” is “teleios,” which has the meaning of “complete.” We are complete only in Christ. God alone can help us to love our enemies.
I just finished a seven-week group with Veterans with PTSD using a book on self-forgiveness written by a psychologist named Everett Worthington, Jr. Worthington is a pioneer of forgiveness research and also a committed Christian. In his book, “Moving Forward: Six Steps to Forgiving Yourself and Breaking Free from the Past,” he writes transparently about his own efforts to forgive himself following the suicide of his younger brother.
Listen to what Worthington says about our dependency on God. He writes, “The perfection God wants for us is an unreachable ideal within the span of our earthly life. It is intended not to create despair or striving for the impossible, but to create a goal that only can be pursued in humility by reliance on God” (p. 188). Folks, we must have God’s help in this. There is no other way to do it. You will run out of love if you lean on your own abilities. You need a supernatural agape love flowing from heaven through you to your enemies. It requires much prayer and surrender of our own emotions to the God who wants to bring it about through us, and to show the world a different type of love—a godly love, a heavenly love.
I’ve told you this story before, but I must again, because it fits so perfectly. Corrie ten Boom lost her whole family to the Nazis. They were a Christian family who were hiding Jews in their attic. A neighbor turned them in. Her parents and sister died in the death camps, but Corrie somehow survived. One day not too long after the end of the war, Corrie had just come out of Sunday morning church services when she spotted one of her Nazi captors coming down the front steps. Worse yet, she noted that he recognized her and was coming towards her. She writes that her veins froze up with hatred as he spoke to her and said, “Ah, Fräulein, it is so good to see you are a Christian like me, because that means you must forgive me!” He extended his hand, and all Corrie had time for was a quick “Help me, God” prayer, but as she prayed, she felt a supernatural force sweep through her body and gently lift her arm and hand to meet his. She can explain it in no other way than to say that the heavenly love of God flowed through her to this former Nazi captor. That is God’s love at work.
Consider Jesus our supreme example in all things. As he hung on a cross, dying the common death of a criminal, yet never having sinned, he was able to say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Or Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who was able to say the same thing as the rocks flew his way in a public stoning (Acts 7:60). When you love without limits, people take note. That day with Stephen, a young man was holding the coats of the people throwing the rocks. This fellow would later become the Apostle Paul, the most famous missionary to ever live.
When we love without limits, we really reflect our standing as “children of our Father in heaven” (verse 45). People look at us and say, “He looks like his Father. She has her Father’s heart.” A watching world is drawn to a loving God, one who loves us without limits. Let us pray:
Father, as always, we’re going to need your help. It is not our natural bent to love those who are mean to us, who hurt us, who offend us, who are different from us. But you love them, every one of them. Help us to surrender our emotions, our reactions, and to pray for them and love them and serve them, as your Holy Spirit flows through us, in Jesus’ name and for his glory, amen.
