Whatever else you might think about Jesus, it’s difficult to deny that sometimes he said some hard things. Sometimes, training the hearts of those who would follow him, Jesus laid down rules of faith that turn our basic human assumptions upside down.
Take, for instance, these instructions from Matthew 5, a passage in the New Testament commonly referred to as The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Wait! What! But Jesus, really?! Yes. Really.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t require his disciples to live in such a way that they have no enemies. He is a realist. He understands the nature of things. He knows that anyone who chooses the counter-cultural lifestyle he proposes will encounter resistance, both cultural and personal. Jesus does not assume that everyone will understand or accept the change of heart and life choices that come as a result of faith, centering life on him and his teachings. He knows that those who follow him will face the same rejection, the same prejudice, the same denials, the same suffering he himself faced.
At the same time, Jesus does not allow his disciples to adopt the essence of superiority either. He will not allow those who give themselves to him to live in a state of arrogance as a means of defending against opposition. He does not give them the freedom to wrap themselves in pride and spiritual snobbery, pretending they are somehow, by reason of relationship, finer human beings than those who challenge them. Instead, he commands compassion, understanding, patience, mercy, investment, self-denial, and self-sacrifice, the substance of love. And not only for those who share our convictions but especially for those who oppose us.
And then, if that weren’t enough, he extends his instruction from a mere inner attitude or emotional position relative to others, to an action that requires personal, verbal, applied humility. He tells those who would follow him to both love AND pray. To pray for someone else is to seek God’s active intervention in their lives for their temporal and eternal good. To pray for an enemy is to ask for God’s life-changing goodness on behalf of someone who may remain unrelenting in their animosity all the days of your life.
There is a scene in The Fiddler on the Roof that I think of often. Seminary students ask the local rabbi if there is a prayer for the Czar. The elderly rabbi pauses for a moment, lifts his finger to his face as if in deep reflection and then answers, “Yes. Yes, there is a prayer for the Czar. “Lord, bless the Czar . . . and keep him far from us!” The students laugh and the scene moves on.
It may be funny and amusing, but such praying is not the praying Jesus intends. He intends for us to seek what is good, and holy, and right, and merciful, and glorious for our enemies. God intends for us to pursue His joy, His perfections, His blessing on those who oppose us, and through us, oppose Him.
It is truly an astounding commandment! And yet, it is consistent with God’s heart toward humanity as demonstrated in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. God, in love, takes on human flesh and shares life with us, in order to reach those who really want nothing to do with Him. He takes the necessary action, sending His Son to die for us on the cross, taking our sin and guilt and shame upon Himself, to bridge the gap that exists between Creator and creature.
This same Jesus who died for us and was raised from the dead by the power of God then sends his disciples to model in their lives the same love God modeled in Christ. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Hard? Yes. Impossible? No. And for disciples of Jesus, not an option either. Today many are tempted to take sides, gather into camps, rally the troops, face off against the enemy. Jesus gives his disciples a very different command, a different strategy, the strategy of God Himself: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. Pastor Dale McIntire has served as pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church in Grand Marais since April of 1995.
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