Actually Loving Your Enemies

A Sermon on Luke 6:27-38 for the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Series C, 2019

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.”  

Okay, pastor, now tell us what that means. We don’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense to us. It’s not that there are words in there we don’t use every day. We hear the sentences just fine. What we don’t get is why anyone would put those particular words together in that way. No one would ever do this. So our first reaction is to try to explain why these words don’t mean what they say. 

Jesus says, “love your enemies.” We understand that not as love, but as put up with your enemies as long as you can stand it, then call that good. Jesus says, “do good to those who hate you.” We understand that not as do good, but as holding back our distain until after they leave. Jesus says, “bless those who curse you.” We understand that not as blessing, but as waiting until they’re out of the room before we curse up a storm. Jesus says, “pray for those who abuse you.” We understand that not as a praying for their well being, but praying that God would hurry up and punish them for what they’ve done. We do that, because the world out there would absolutely take advantage of anyone who actually lived like this. And we don’t like being taken advantage of. That’s why we say that we don’t understand. Because Jesus can’t actually mean what He says, can He?

We want an out. A qualifier. An upper limit as to how far this text can be applied. We want that one little bit of information that will allow us to live exactly the way we have been all along. Perhaps now with a pat from Jesus on our back. And a thumbs up for the good job we’ve been doing. And I might have one for you. But what then will we do with it? Use it as an excuse to ignore what Jesus Himself says? Use it to never love, never do good, never bless, or never pray for those who are against us? That’s why what I say next is the absolute minimum of what this text means. And it can absolutely mean more.

Jesus says these words with a context. And the context is actually last week’s Gospel lesson. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”

The world will be our enemy us when we confess Christ Jesus. The world will hate us when we proclaim His forgiveness of our sin. The world will curse us for believing. And the world will abuse us because of who our God is. They will strike us. They will take from us. They will commit all kinds of evil against us because of the name of Jesus. And do you know what we should do in return? Well, you do now. Love them. Do good to them. Bless them. Pray for them. And don’t judge them for doing these things to you. Matthew’s gospel has a little different context for that statement than here in Luke. And it never quite means what either we or the world want it to mean. Because in the midst of enduring all this is exactly the time we want to judge, and not in the appropriate times and places. 

Now again, this context of enduring all these things because you confess Christ is the minimum this text means. We’re absolutely called to turn the other cheek here. But not only here. 

And yet the full extent of how and when we’re to keep these commands is difficult. Because our sin always pits Law against Law, hoping that we just give up on all of them. We’re given scenarios where making the right decision is the last thing we want to do. Or when there is no right answer. What do we do then? Well, remember love. Jesus says today, “…as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” That’s the Law of God summed up completely in regards to your neighbor. Use that as your guide. 

But even more important than that is that Jesus has already fulfilled this command perfectly on your behalf. While we were still enemies of Him, Christ Jesus died in love for you. When we hated Him by thought, word, and deed, He did good for us by bearing all of our sin. When we cursed Him for daring to say we had sinned, He blessed us with forgiveness, paid for by His blood. When we abused Him and His whole creation for our selfish desires, He prayed for us, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” When we struck Him, He offered more of Himself to be stricken by being nailed to a cross. When we took His cloak and divided it, He offered His tunic for which we cast lots. When we begged for Him to be crucified, He gave His life, not holding it back. Jesus did for us, what we should have done for Him. And by it, has saved us all. 

Jesus fulfilled these words completely at His cross for you. He didn’t try to do the minimum to get by. He didn’t ask if sacrificing everything really meant everything. You were in need, and that was reason enough to give. And Jesus is still giving to you today. He has given you forgiveness, through confession and absolution. He has given you hope through His Word. He has given you life through your baptism. And He has given you salvation in His Supper. Through those gifts, we are made ready to love others as He has loved us. And what a love that is. Thanks be to God.