Tag: sermon on the mount

Lynching, Lusting, Liquidating, and Lying (Matthew 5:21-37)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
A Bengali depiction of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you; you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (New International Version)

Christ’s Sermon on the Mount by Joseph Matar

Relationships are important to God (and us!); we need one another because we are created in the image of a relational God. So, God wants us to have good relations with each other.

Murder, adultery, divorce, and oaths all have to do with interpersonal relations. These are topics from the Ten Commandments (6, 7, 9, and 10) that Jesus wanted to uphold.

Murder

Just because no blood is spilled doesn’t mean a killing hasn’t taken place. At the heart of the killing is angry contempt – which makes us all mass-murderers. The sort of anger Jesus refers to is nursing a grudge that morphs into hatred. It’s the deliberate decision to let anger sit in the pit of the gut and slow cook into deep resentment. Once that resentment is well done, murder becomes the meal.

Name-calling is the outward expression of resentful grudge bearing. “Raca” is an “airhead.” It means to be empty or stupid. The word “fool” is literally a “moron” – one who lacks both brains and morality. Both names hurt deeply, which is the expressed aim of the name caller. To have our intelligence and character questioned, cuts to the heart.

Jesus insists that harboring internal resentment comes out in external name-calling, verbally lynching people without a trial. Whenever we string a person up, divine judgment is coming to town. 

No one has a right to nurse a grudge. Repaying hatred with hatred is a highway to the grave. If you have ever wished someone dead, hated anyone, or belittled another; then, you have assassinated that person in your heart and are under the judgment of a holy God.

So, what to do in overcoming the resentment? Seek reconciliation immediately. Jesus used two illustrations to illumine the need for reconciliation with others when there are sour relations: an example of worship and an example with the court.

If you are worshiping, and remember that someone else is nursing a grudge against you, it is your responsibility to go and make things right. The Lord does not want to talk to anyone who won’t talk to their sister or brother.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors… For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:12, 14-15, NIV)

None of this is meant to minimize the hurt or trauma that has taken place. Many people have faced hell in the shape of a human. Yet, because Jesus takes your hurt seriously, he calls for forgiveness and reconciliation. Without it, the pain unnecessarily continues and there is no healing.

In the illustration of court, we are to settle matters quickly and make things right so that judgment won’t happen. Let’s avoid living with the regret of vengeance because of destroying someone’s life. Forgiveness and reconciliation are always options on the table.

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Hebrews 12:15, NIV

Adultery

Adultery has its origins in mental sexual activity with another person. Jesus is not against normal gender attraction, nor sex itself (which is a gift of God). Rather, Jesus condemns the leering upon another with sexual fantasy. All adulterous relationships and inappropriate sexual relations start with the “look.”

“Lust” is to intensely desire something, to seek mastery over another. The reason people stare, and lust, is not because of the other person’s manner or dress; it’s because they already have an adulterous heart.

Managing adultery with a band aid is like trying to contain a nuclear meltdown with some duct tape; it’s an amputation we need. Jesus leaves no room to think it’s okay to lust in the heart because “I’m not hurting anybody.” Mental adultery demeans and degrades women.

Our lustful desires are powerful; yet God’s grace is more powerful. There’s no need to be burdened with shame and guilt when the cross of Christ has already taken care of it. There is a multi-billion dollar industry of pornography because our hearts are black. Now is the time for forgiveness, grace, and healing in Jesus Christ.

Sermon on the Mount by Jorge Cocco Santiago

Divorce

Today in America, more than one-third of all adults have experienced divorce. Jesus condemns the cavalier divorce, the thought of having a better spouse, even though there is no marital unfaithfulness. This is yet another form of mental adultery which believes someone else can better meet my needs. 

Jesus makes provision for divorce to occur in certain circumstances. Yet, he doesn’t bend to liquidating a marriage over unhappiness with what God has joined together. The intent of Old Testament legislation on divorce is to avoid a casual stance toward marriage (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). Over the centuries, people found creative ways of getting around the law. Although a divorce may be legal, it might not be ethical. Jesus wanted divorce practiced with concern for the woman, so that her rights and needs were considered.

For most of human history, if a husband did not like his wife (e.g. for continually burning his supper) he could divorce her. Jesus, however, insisted divorce must not happen because of a hard time getting along; or don’t love your spouse anymore; or that your spouse keeps irritating you. 

Being frustrated or unhappy are not biblical grounds for divorce. The answer to most marital problems does not lie in a new spouse, but in the hard work of identifying the idols of our hearts, overthrowing them, and re-connecting.

Christ sought to defend women who are victims. In biblical times, if a wife was given a certificate of divorce, she had four options: 1) return to her family of origin; 2) become a beggar; 3) become a prostitute to make ends meet; or, 4) marry again, which was extremely difficult to do. 

In reality, divorce is a legal testimony verifying that a separation has already occurred. It’s a recognition that disunity and division is already present, that a terrible break already happened, damaging the people involved.   

If God found it necessary to divorce his own covenant people, then it’s inevitable that divorce will happen among couples (Jeremiah 3:1-8). So, let’s be discerning in how we handle each individual situation of marital difficulty.

Oaths

“I swear on a stack of Bibles I won’t…” “I will, if I get around to it….” These are a few of the caveats we give when making a promise or oath. Oaths communicate our level or ability of getting something done, or not.

That’s fine. What isn’t fine is making excuses or false promises with no intention of doing what you say you will do. Jesus takes all that extraneous language out. Say “yes” or “no” and then follow through; if you don’t, you’re a liar.

We often lie because we don’t want to do something to begin with. “Yes” and “no” are clear boundary words. Boundaries define where I end and someone else begins, leading me to a sense of ownership. Knowing what I am to take and not take responsibility for gives me freedom.

Jesus wants us to clarify our values; make wise decisions; identify what we will accept and reject; and follow through on what we say we will do, period.

Murder, adultery, divorce, and oaths are all related. They have to do with how we relate to others, especially those closest to us and to God. We are to live responsibly by keeping our hearts large and soft.

Christ’s Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Sermon on the Mount by Gisele Bauche

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (New Revised Standard Version)

God’s Law (The Ten Commandments) was given on a mountain. That Law was restated and reframed on a mountain by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount.

I believe that arguably one of the most important and impactful portions of Holy Scripture are the Beatitudes of Jesus, which serve as the foundation to all of Christ’s teaching.

Christ’s Beatitudes are not simply a random collection of pithy phrases from Jesus on what constitutes approval and blessing from God. They intentionally build upon each other and describe the nature of true righteousness.

The Poor in Spirit

Spiritual poverty, not wealth, is the spiritual base to the Christian life. Most of the original crowd listening to Jesus thought they were on the outside of the kingdom, on the margins of true religion. But Jesus told them they have a place in God’s reign as poor and pitiable people.

To be “poor in spirit” is to be a spiritual beggar who recognizes they have nothing to offer God. It is seeing oneself, one’s sin, and one’s life as spiritually bankrupt apart from God.

Beggars have neither the leverage nor the ability to strike deals with anybody; and so, they do one thing: beg continually.

The proud person would never be caught begging for anything. Yet, the humble spiritual beggar constantly prays because they need God. They discern that without God there is no hope. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the penitent and not to the proud.

The Mourners 

Mourning is the emotional response of acknowledging one’s spiritual poverty. 

Grief and lament have a central place in Christian theology and life. To avoid it, work around it, or short-circuit its process is to refuse Christ; there is no righteousness apart from mourning over sin. Crying, weeping, and even intense tears are important and necessary.

To experience personal grief over one’s sins and the sins of the church and the world is a Beatitude of Jesus. You neither need position, power, privilege, nor pedigree to be a mourner. All can mourn. This is the door by which we enter the kingdom of God.

The Meek

A meek and gentle spirit is the result of realizing poverty of spirit and practicing lament.

At the heart of what it means to be meek is a spirit of non-retaliation. Whenever we are flat on our backs before God, there is no place to look but up. Thus, there is no ability to look down on others.

To be meek is to be broken and moldable before God. A meek person takes personal responsibility for their attitudes and actions. The meek have no need to retaliate, even when egregiously wronged, because they fully entrust themselves to God alone who judges the living and the dead.

Ironically, brokenness is the path to righteous wholeness.

The Hungry and Thirsty

Only those who know their poverty of spirit, personally grieve over sin, and are gentle, end up longing for righteousness.

The desire for righteousness is a recognition that without God I will not make it. I cannot be righteous without Jesus. Simply put, righteousness is a right relationship with God and others.

Those who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness know they cannot make things right by themselves; they need God’s help.

If we think we can live most days of our lives without God, we do not yet know true righteousness. People who understand their great need for Jesus are easy to spot. They crave and devour God’s Word as their daily food; and they cannot stop blabbering on about Jesus.

There are three practices of living that arise from being filled with God’s righteousness: mercy, purity, and peacemaking. These Beatitudes cannot be conjured up by our own will; instead, they organically grow within us and are freely expressed because of what God is doing in our lives.

You cannot force them any more than you can force a stalk of corn to grow on your terms. Rather, you work with the unforced rhythms of God’s grace and allow righteousness to take root in you.

Down below in the soil, spiritual poverty, mourning, and humility germinate. Then, when the plant breaks the soil and flowers, it produces mercy, purity, and peace-making.

The Merciful 

Mercy begins with a heart that seeks to be generous; it is a loving response to someone or a group of people in misery. We accept them and help them because we ourselves have been there.

The merciful person looks for ways to come alongside others and help, rather than pile expectations and burdens on others without mentoring them in the ways of God.

The Pure In Heart

Purity also results from true righteousness. A stalk of corn might look good, but if you shuck it and it’s filled with worms, it’s not worth much. Legalistic righteousness is concerned to look good; it’s obsessed with performance, perfection, and possessions.

Conversely, the righteousness of God fills our hungry hearts and makes us pure and holy, set apart for good use.

The Peacemakers 

Those who make peace intentionally put themselves in the middle of trouble because they want to live righteously with the mercy and purity that God has provided for them.

Peace is realized through peacemakers. It seems we all desire peace, and yet, peacemakers are hard to come by. It’s a tough gig. To achieve peace, one must first be at peace with God and self – which is why we need the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Persecuted 

Living righteously, as presented by Jesus, tends to bring persecution; and the persecuted consider it a small price to pay for realizing God’s justice in the world.

Folks who are offended by even slight criticisms are usually the ones who are privileged and in power. They have not yet learned the ways of Jesus. Pettiness is nothing more than a sign of unrighteousness.

Yoking up with Jesus, following him, and living into his words and ways has always been risky and dangerous. The Beatitudes of Jesus are not characteristics that lead to power, prestige, or possessions, but likely just the opposite.

“The Beatitudes, spoken with the community of Jesus’ disciples in view, are paradoxes – the standards of the world are turned upside down as soon as things are seen in their right perspective, which is to say, in terms of God’s values, so different from those of the world. It is precisely those who are poor in worldly terms, those thought of as lost souls, who are truly fortunate ones, the blessed, who have every reason to rejoice and exult in their suffering. The Beatitudes are promises resplendent with the new image of the world and humanity inaugurated by Jesus.”

Pope Benedict XVI

Truly righteous persons become living Beatitudes; they are walking, talking blessings to the world. They abide with Christ and are witnesses to a subversive, yet wonderful, way of life, where the last are first and the greatest are the least.

O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me.

O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me.

O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me your peace.

Matthew 6:19-24 – Where Is Your Loyalty Placed?

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (New International Version)

Nobody can pursue two diametrically opposed commitments. 

Trying to live in both worlds of pursuing earthly treasure and heavenly treasure is not possible. 

Jesus has no place for any of his followers to ride the fence between those two worlds.

We cannot practice God’s will, and at the same time have a moonlighting job with the world.

As followers of God, we must have a single-minded loyalty to kingdom values. 

We are to do the will of God, from a right and sincere heart, and follow Christ’s teaching alone. 

We may give of ourselves, and give of our money, with sincerity, but if we walk away from that and believe the rest of my money, time, talents, and resources are mine to use as I want (since I fulfilled my duty) then we have a divided loyalty between the kingdom of God and the domain of darkness.

Jesus, as he typically does in the Gospels, used metaphors to communicate that we must have an unswerving loyalty to God’s kingdom values.

The Treasure Metaphor

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. So, what are earthly treasures? 

Stuff, money, possessions, control, power, position, and recognition from others. 

You may rightly ask in response, “Is any of that really, in and of itself, wrong?” 

No. However, that’s not the real issue. The real question is this:

Do we use our earthly treasure to build heavenly treasure, or do we hoard earthly treasure for our own purposes apart from Christ’s kingdom values?

A man in a crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of what our father left us when he died.”

Jesus answered, “Who gave me the right to settle arguments between you and your brother?”

Then he said to the crowd, “Don’t be greedy! Owning a lot of things won’t make your life safe.”

So, Jesus told them this story:

A rich man’s farm produced a big crop, and he said to himself, “What can I do? I don’t have a place large enough to store everything.”

Later, he said, “Now I know what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I can store all my grain and other goods. Then I’ll say to myself, ‘You have stored up enough good things to last for years to come. Live it up! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’ ”

But God said to him, “You fool! Tonight, you will die. Then who will get what you have stored up?”

“This is what happens to people who store up everything for themselves but are poor in the sight of God.” (Luke 12:13-21, CEV)

Earthly possessions are tools to be used. Jesus warns that we must not accumulate personal wealth, esteem, and success for the sake of placing ultimate security in money, but for advancing God’s kingdom values. 

Why do that? 

Because earthly treasure is temporary, and heavenly treasure is permanent. 

Heavenly treasure is righteousness; it’s right and just relationships. Humility, peace, grace, mercy, purity, and forgiveness are all relational values. The only thing that we will take with us when we die is relationships; it’s the only thing that’s permanent.

If I am genuinely committed to God’s kingdom, my most cherished values will be established by God. 

Whatever it is that we value, those values consume our thoughts and our efforts. In other words, what’s truly in our hearts directs our work.

And what we value derives from how we perceive our identity. For many Americans, we are defined primarily not as citizens or workers, but consumers. Jesus is neither advocating that we take vows of poverty, nor that we ought not to enjoy the good things in life. Rather, Jesus wants us to define where our loyalties truly lie.

The Light Metaphor

In the ancient world, the eye represented what you fixed your gaze on, or what your focus was. In our culture, we could replace the word “eye” with the word “goal.” The word “body” represents the entirety of one’s life.  So, we may interpret Christ’s words in this way: 

A goal is the focus of a life. If your goals are good, your whole life will be full of proper focus. But if your goals are bad, your whole life will be full of blindness. If then, the focus within you is only really blindness, how great is that darkness!

If the goals and dreams of life are toward earthly treasure, you will blindly move in that direction and your life will end up in disordered love and misplaced values. At death, you will have nothing to take with you because all the eggs have been put in the temporal basket.

The Slavery Metaphor

Jesus flatly stated that we cannot simultaneously serve God and money. Pick and choose. You must go one way or the other; there is no middle ground. 

The question Jesus is posing is: “Who’s your Master?” 

  • When deciding between two jobs, or two homes, or how to spend your time or your money, what set of values comes into play?… values that define me as a follower of Jesus?… or values that define me as an American consumer? 
  • Will I be a bondservant of Jesus, or a slave to credit card debt? 
  • Will I serve God, or serve the lifestyle that I believe I deserve?

Conclusion

None of us are immune from the temptations of all the world’s shiny things, of ambling into misdirected goals.  If you find that you are slave to the wrong god, then there is good news: There is an infinite storehouse of grace that flows from the very heart of God through Jesus Christ. 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong. (1 John 1:9, CEB)

Choose this day whom you will serve.

Our Father in heaven,
may your name always be kept holy.
May your kingdom come
and what you want, be done,
    here on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us the food we need for each day.
Forgive us for our sins,
    just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.
And do not cause us to be tempted,
but save us from the Evil One.

The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13, NCV)

Matthew 5:43-48 – Love Your Enemy

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

“You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete. (Common English Bible)

A few rhetorical questions: Have you ever had someone not like you? Offend you? Purposely say or do things that upset you? 

I once had a next door neighbor that was just plain mean. Once, when my dog accidentally strayed into her yard and left a package, she picked it up and placed the package directly in front of my backdoor. 

When stuff happen, it’s easy to respond in kind. Many of us have sly passive aggressive tendencies toward people we don’t like. One of my professors once admitted that he responded to a woman who was bragging to him about how many children she had by saying, “Oh, we don’t place such an emphasis on sex in my house!”

That sort of stuff is rather benign. It’s altogether a different thing whenever someone has deeply hurt us with malicious words or actions. We naturally seek to defend and respond by hurting the other back. 

So then, this is no trite saying of Jesus to proclaim that we are to love the enemy. It cannot be done apart from the God’s grace.

Jesus knows what he is asking of us. And he does not ask of us anything that he himself has not done.

We are often pleased with ourselves if we love our family and friends, because even that is a struggle, at times, for many people. 

Yet, our love needs to expand much further than family. We must treat all people with respect and kindness, even active love, because this is what God does. And if followers of Jesus don’t do this, Christianity is shown, at best, to be just another religion out of many, and at worst, the Church is presented to the world as a fraud.

Those who are poor in spirit, mourn over sin, and display meekness, are those who understand they are no better than anyone else, including their enemies. 

They seek to be right and to do right by:

  • Showing mercy instead of judgment
  • Displaying purity of heart instead of making plans to get back at others
  • Seeking peaceful solutions instead of looking to pick a fight 
  • Accepting insults, persecution, instead of hating (Matthew 5:3-12)

With God’s righteousness as their breastplate, the Christian loves the enemy and prays for those who persecute them.

The Old Testament clearly says to love your neighbor (Leviticus 19:18). Yet, nowhere in the Bible does it say to hate your enemy.

Over the centuries, people began to draw the inference that if we are told to love our neighbor, that therefore, we must hate our enemy, who is not our neighbor. 

From that popular understanding, it was inevitable that Jesus would get asked the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Christ’s answer to that question was to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The conclusion to that parable is that everyone I come into contact is my neighbor, and so must be shown mercy when they are in need.

It is not for us to judge whether someone is unlovable. It’s not our call to deem another person as unworthy of receiving love. Neither you nor I gets to decide if a person or group of people are too obnoxious or evil for any sort of love.

Nobody can love God by being hateful to another person. Love of God is not measured by zeal against God’s enemies; it is measured by treating all persons with respect and love.

Jesus clearly tells us how we can love our enemies: Pray for them. It is difficult to hate a group of people when we are devoted to praying for them. It’s really hard to call somebody a monster when you are using their name in prayer.

So, if you are struggling with a person or a group of people, pray! If someone is giving you a hard time and doesn’t like you, pray for them. Pray they will see the error of their ways. Pray the Spirit to open their eyes and grant them self-awareness. And, at all times, leave the judgment to God, for that is his business, not ours. (Romans 12:17-19)

Why love “those” people?… Because God loves them.

Loving those who offend us emulates God’s benevolence. Whenever we love our enemies, we are not expecting anything in return.

Since you are God’s dear children, you must try to be like him. Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God. (Ephesians 5:1-2, GNT)

Love gives life meaning. And love always suffers. There isn’t any love apart from suffering. That’s because it requires a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears to love. Jesus is asking us to suffer for the enemy, just as we suffer for our children and our friends.

If Christians have no love for their enemies, then they are no different than the haters of this world. Followers of Jesus are distinctive because of the way we treat people. We are to model our lives after God’s love, not by the standard of niceness to those who are nice to us. 

God doesn’t expect us to live only through reciprocity, that is, simply giving back to those who already have given something to us. Christians are to give even when persecuted. That’s because God shows no distinction in how he distributes the sun and the rain. 

Showing basic respect and goodness to all people, no matter who they are, is God’s rain showers and sunshine toward others.

I have observed that every church believes they are friendly (even the cold ones) because the members are friendly with their friends. They greet everyone who greets them. This is neither spectacular nor noteworthy. 

Genuine love keeps an eye open for the quiet, the awkward, and the friendless, and seeks them out.

“To return evil for good is devilish; to return good for good is human; to return good for evil is divine. To love as God loves is moral perfection.”

Alfred Plummer

Most English translations has Jesus saying to be “perfect,” because the heavenly Father is perfect. That is an unfortunate translation because a lot of people think “perfectionism.” But that’s not what Jesus was talking about. Christ was referring to being spiritually mature, morally sound, and personally whole and integrated.

“Maturity is looking at every person we meet and saying to yourself, ‘I will never, God helping me, do anything to harm you: not by angrily lashing out at you, lusting over you, faithlessly slipping away from you, verbally hitting back at you, or even justifiably disliking you.’”

Frederick Dale Bruner

So, how do you treat people, all people, even those you don’t like and have hurt you in some way? 

The ability to love the enemy comes from God. Grace is not something we can just conjure up, as if we might will ourselves to love our enemies. It is not natural – it is supernatural, and so must come from a supernatural Being. 

Human relationships easily become subject to verbal violence, bitterness, and destruction, whenever we treat our own life and the lives of other people as properties to be defended, instead of precious gifts to be received. 

We have died to hate. So, how can we live in it any longer? Selfishness, pride, and seeking to control others has been crucified with Christ. 

If we have nothing to defend, then we have no enemies who can harm us.

Jesus, Prince of Peace, you have asked us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. With the help of the Holy Spirit, enable us to do just that. Give us the courage, strength, and grace to love those who harm us so that we may shine as beacons of Christian light in a world of revenge, retaliation, and darkness.

May all people learn to work together for the justice which brings true and lasting peace.

Let us pray for our enemies and persecutors:

We pray for those who have hurt us.
Bless them always and in every way, Lord.

We pray for those who hate us.
Bless them always and in every way, Lord.

We pray for those who insult us.
Bless them always and in every way, Lord.

We pray for those who have stolen from us.
Bless them always and in every way, Lord.

We pray for those who will not hear us.
Bless them always and in every way, Lord. Amen.