Enemies – It never seems complicated to find an enemy – There are some prominent obvious examples – Those waging war – seeking to destroy countries that oppose them – even sending tanks across the plains of Europe seeking to gain territory and cause other nations and peoples to cease to exists – In politics, those that oppose one’s view – standing in the way of passing significant legislation.
There is also at work, the Manager who demands you work unpaid overtime and then avoids giving you a promotion – or the coworker working on stealing the promotion that you know you deserve – Then there is in the neighborhood – and the local homeowners association and the pool needs repairs – or the condo association and the roof needs fixed – an assessment must be raised to make necessary safety repairs, and that enemy is standing firmly against what must be done – enemies – they are not hard to find.
And the first century was no different. – There were plenty of enemies to find -The roman empire had taken control, there was no Davidic king as there was of old – An enemy, the conquering empire. Enemies, the Pharisees, hypocritical standing opposed to Christ at each moment. ... Enemies, the Sanhedrin – allied with Herod and Caesar, seeking political power – one day to declare, “we have no king but Caesar” – Enemies - The day would come; when the crowds will cry out – “Crucify him! Crucify Him!” – Never any shortage of enemies.
How do we approach these enemies? – there is the obvious answer -“You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” They are obstacles to be overcome – defeated – run off the battlefield, crushed – The suitable legislation passed, the bad defeated – At work, I get the promotion – I get my vacation – In the neighborhood, the pool gets fixed, the leaky roof repaired, the assessment goes through. This is what we want - Pray for those on your side. – pray against those that oppose you.
Yet this is not Jesus’ response “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Love our enemies? And pray for those who persecute you? – How is that going to bring about success? Why pray for our enemies? Do we not want those that oppose us to fail? Why loves our enemies? How do we pray for them? Why? How?
As an unknown writer in the early church put it – “I think that Christ ordered these things not so much for our enemies as for us: not because enemies are fit to be loved by others but because we are not fit to hate anyone.” Hate is not fitting to us – we are called to love. – We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves – and who is our enemy? – it turns out it is our neighbor.
In the first century, there were enemies, the roman legions, tax collectors, Pharisees, Sadducees, the Sanhedrin – enemies – and also those that Christ came for – sinners in need of redemption –neighbors – those that Christ was born, suffered, died, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven for – Christ loved these – enemies and persecutors? Yes - but also neighbors – those Christ came to save.
So also, today – those enemies we might find – well, they are our neighbors – In the Homeowners association or condo association – we might be opposed – yet they are also our neighbors – At work, it is our neighbors – the same town, state – the opposition in politics? It is out of love of the same country – and it is neighboring countries that invade each other – why must we love our enemies? Because we must love our neighbor.
We cannot love our neighbors and hate our enemies – for it turns out they are the same – the only option is that which we are called to do – To love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us – but how? By following the example of Christ.
Love does not mean wishing success or praying for success – Success in doing evil is not for anyone’s good – If I am making a mistake, the loving thing for someone to do is to stop me – Love, in the famous words of St Thomas – is to will the good of the other as other.” It is not beneficial for anyone for evil to succeed in doing evil - instead, we pray for what is their good – for conversion – for their salvation. – we wish for their salvation – just as we pray for our own salvation - we pray that they might “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
And by doing this – we might just be praying for our own conversion – that by loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us – that we might be turning to Christ and our salvation – that, by the grace of God – we might, one day in heaven - “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”