Look How These Christians Love One Another

Scripture — Luke 6:27-38 (NRSV)

Jesus said, “I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Devotion

We are growing closer to the end of the Season after the Epiphany; Ash Wednesday will be here on March 5th, before you know it. As with every Gospel lesson during this season, the question to ask is, “How is this manifesting the glory of Christ in the world?”

To answer that question about this particular passage, we probably need to look at all of Luke 6, where we discover that these teachings by Jesus are part of a longer discourse often called the Sermon on the Plain, which shares many similarities with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6. The Sermon on the Plain begins with Luke’s version of the Beatitudes (Luke 6:20-26) and then moves directly into this passage, which somewhat resembles Matthew 5:38-48. (Like any good preacher, Jesus appears to have made more than one use of his best material.)

While at first glance this passage may seem to be just a collection of pithy statements, it quickly becomes apparent that most of those pithy statements are in support of Jesus’s provocative thesis statement here: Love your enemies (Luke 6:27). Jesus first describes the self-sacrificial nature of this love (6:27-31), then anticipates some common objections he imagines his listeners might make (6:32-34), then concludes with a clear plea for mercy rather than judgment—a mercy that will, ultimately, result in those who show it receiving a reward of overwhelming mercy from the Father in return (6:35-38).

It strikes me that of all the commands Jesus gave his followers, this may be the one which we have categorically been the worst. Even setting current events and conflicts aside, the history of Christianity has frequently been one of conquest and coercion in the name of Christ, not of mercy and humility (proved ever more surely to me when I wrote a book about the entire history of Christianity from Jesus to now.)

It also strikes me, as I try to understand why the lectionary compilers chose this of all passages for the season when we look for epiphanies of Christ in the world, that truly living out love of enemies manifests the glories of the Kingdom in ways that are almost unmatched. Church father Tertullian once commented that one of the best arguments for the truth of Christianity to a pagan world was “Look how these [Christians] love one another.”

So: Who are your enemies? No, don’t tell me. Just go love them. Maybe it really is that simple.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: The Ethics of Conflict (Luke 6:27-36; 17:3-4).