Free to Love

It’s easy to love those who love me. Well, at least it is easy to be loved by those who love me and treat me well. It is easier to treat them well, but if I’m honest with myself, sometimes I’m selfish and don’t treat them as well as I should. What does it mean to love well?

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28 Jesus just gave us a ‘love list’. While it is directed at loving our enemies, it also applies to loving those who love us. We are to show love, do good for them, bless them and pray for them. We would do well to treat our friends this way. But Jesus is taking it to another level and asking us to love our enemies as well.

And just in case we don’t understand what he is talking about, Jesus takes the time to give us some examples. “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:29-31

When I was growing up my mother instilled in me a very strong value regarding slapping someone in the face. She did not allow it – period. She had a rough childhood and had been on the receiving end of being slapped. It is not the physical pain of slapping that turned her vehemently against it. She had a high tolerance for pain. It was the emotional pain – the humiliation that made it unbearable. She was not about to allow anyone she loved to be slapped in the face.

I wonder why Jesus pulled that out as an example about loving our enemies. In our culture, we don’t slap and spit (at least most of us don’t) and his point could go right over our heads. But in Jesus’ time, people did slap to humiliate and they did spit to show disdain for another. And Jesus is telling us that the way to love those who wish to humiliate us or have disdain for us is to give them the opportunity to do it again! Why? Won’t that encourage their wickedness?

Jesus goes on to say that if someone steals from you to offer them more and don’t demand it back. Won’t that encourage more stealing? Where is justice here?

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them… Even ‘sinners’ do good to those who are good to them… Even ‘sinners’ lend to others expecting to be repaid in full… But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:32-36

If we love our enemies, we will be sons [and daughters] of the Most High. We will be like our Daddy who is kind to even the wicked. He shows mercy even when people do not deserve it. That sounds a bit like, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 Maybe God is on to something here. Maybe if we treat people as if they were good (even while they are not), they will become good! After all, isn’t that what happened when Jesus went to the cross for our sins? “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” II Corinthians 5:21

Jesus not only said the words, he showed us how to do it. If we are willing to give up our ‘rights’ and ‘privileges’ we have in this life, we may be able to show someone the way to Jesus. And if we do, our reward will be great. We will be acting as sons of the Most High who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked (he died for all).

This is way more than I can accomplish on my own. I am not capable of loving that way. But something I have learned is that I am loved totally and completely – perfectly – by my Father in heaven. And knowing that love and inviting his Holy Spirit to abide in me breaks down my barriers to loving others. I have all that I need and more. I can give freely both of love and of belongings. My Father, who supplies all my needs in the first place, can replace anything that is taken from me if I really need it. And he can heal my emotional bruises when others try to humiliate me. When I walk steadfastly with him, I do not need to fear what others can do to me and I am free to love others with abandon – even my enemies.