From January 6, One Year Bible

Matthew 5:43-48 (The words of Jesus)

“You have heard the law that says 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

I have read and heard verse 43 so many times that I can't count them and I'm not certain that it occurred to me before exactly what Jesus said. He is quoting the law from Leviticus 19:18 which actually says, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Nowhere in that law is any kind of reference like “hate your enemy.” So, was Jesus mis-quoting the law? If not, what was He trying to teach here? He was saying that by our common actions, WE have added that second and unwritten part to the law ourselves. Our actions often imply that if we love those who are good to us, we have license to hate those who are unkind or mean to us.

Jesus went on to tell us (v-44) to “...love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” REALLY?! So, how do you love your enemies? Do we just avoid them? Do we just let them do their thing and we go on doing ours? If they will leave us alone, we will leave them alone, right? I looked at Jesus' words again: “...love your enemies!”  That word “love” is the verb in His instruction and a verb is where the action is. Can we love by avoiding people? Can we love by just doing our own thing? Can we love by just leaving people alone? That sounds like anything but action. To love the way Jesus said to love, we must be involved and taking some kind of action. In that way we “...will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.”(v-45) Now, there's the verb; there's the action.

Now, it makes sense. To become like our heavenly Father, we must learn to love like Him. We must find ways to become involved with our enemies...those who persecute us. We cannot show God's love from a distance.