IS OUR Lord Jesus asking us too much when He tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us? How can you possibly love someone whom you know is unlovable?
It’s the reason why Christ made a lengthy statement about this topic because it goes against our human nature, to love those who wish us harm. And since it goes against our human nature made weak by original sin, then loving one’s enemies can only be achieved with the aid of God’s grace much like the practice of the virtue of chastity, a virtue that can be exercised for some length of time but can’t be sustained without God’s help.“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your
enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on
the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If
you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Aren't even the tax
collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you
doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as
your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)
The “love” our Lord Jesus Christ meant here, is not of course, warm
feelings of personal affection but the genuine will to the true good of our
enemies. Enemies would mean anyone that intends harm on us whether
physical or spiritual. There are enemies that can’t be loved at all, such
as the devils (who have no chance of conversion) and sins or violations of
God’s commandments in themselves. In other words, we are not to love evil
in itself.
Christ did not just preach this but lived it. Jesus loved Judas
(who committed the greatest crime in history by facilitating the death of God),
even in the very act of committing the crime: as Judas was handing over Christ
for execution in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus called him “friend”. (Matthew
26:50) Christ likewise asked His Father to forgive His executioners for they
“know not what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
Loving one’s enemies is aligned to another famous Christian saying, “Hate the sin, but not the sinner.” If a person has no chance of changing his or her ways then, there is no point in loving that person. That’s why we can’t also love and pray for souls who are in Hell because there’s no chance of them turning back.
But since all persons here on earth, as long as they
are alive, have a chance of mending their ways and going back to God, no matter
how many or how grave their sins are, then, we can wish for their spiritual
good. Sometimes this willingness for their true good might include
wishing the sinner or our enemies to suffer some pain, not out of vengeance but
for instruction or repentance, hoping that they might see their evil-doings and
repent. That’s the reason why we put people in prison.
Loving one’s enemies is not an act of justice but an act of love which
goes beyond justice. To love is not to give that person what he or she
deserves, but give far more than what the person deserves because that’s also
what God does to us and we all have to be like God. “Be perfect,
therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
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