Today, we begin to look at our focus text for the class in more detail. This gives us teaching about loving enemies in general.
Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Moses taught returning harm for harm
We saw this in the nonresistance section – “an eye for an eye,” but it is also in this passage. For although Moses taught in Leviticus 19:18 to forsake revenge and love your neighbor – that is, your fellow Israelite, he also taught in Deuteronomy 23:3-6 to hate the enemy who is an outsider, who does you harm, that is, the Ammonite and the Moabite. These were the descendants of Lot who did not give the Israelites food and water in their time of need after the Exodus, but rather tried to curse them by hiring Balaam.
Because of this Israel is commanded never to act for this people’s well-being. Verse 6 says, “You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.” So you have harm, what Israel is to do, for harm, that is, in response to what was done to them by their enemies.
This is the principle of evil for evil, harm for harm. You do good to those who are good to you/ you do evil, harm, bad to those who are bad to you. Although there are many examples of this principle in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 23 is specifically what Jesus is referring to when he says, “you have heard that it was said . . . hate your enemy,” as we will see more clearly next week.
Jesus teaches us to return good for harm
After laying out Moses’ position, Jesus moves beyond it. He’s saying, ‘this is what Moses taught,’ “but I say to you . . ..”
What does he say? “Love your enemies” – return love, for harm. “Pray for those who persecute you” – return prayer, for harm. We can add in here two more phrases that Jesus uses in Luke 6. “Do good to those who hate you” – return good for harm. And “bless those who curse you” – return blessing, for harm.
In all of these we see the same point. Instead of returning harm for harm, evil for evil, we are to return good for evil. As in all the six examples in Matthew 5, Jesus calls us to a higher standard; higher than what Moses taught.
Complete Love
Now, this call to return good for evil is packaged in a contrast between incomplete love and complete love. (In v. 48 the word “perfect” can also be translated as “complete.” This is, at least in part, where I am getting this from when I speak of complete love).
- Incomplete love means loving only certain people – those who are in your group, or those who do good to you.
- Complete, or perfect love means loving all people – those who are and who are not a part of your group. It means loving those who do good to you and those who harm you.
It is complete love because it encompasses all people.
Jesus gives two examples of incomplete love. In v. 46 there are tax collectors who love only a certain group – those who love them. In v. 47 there are Gentiles who greet only a certain kind of people – those in their own group.
Now these are, obviously, negative examples. You can tell this by reading the verses vs. 46-47 – “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”
Again, Jesus is calling us to a higher standard than what “tax collectors,” “Gentiles,” or as he says in Luke 6, “sinners” live by; the standard of incomplete love.
In v. 45 Jesus gives us this higher standard in the two examples of complete love. In v. 45 the Father gives sunshine to the good and the evil. In the same verse the Father gives rain to the just (righteous) and the unjust (unrighteous). In an agricultural context, giving sunshine and rain means that God supplies food to all. God feeds even his enemies. The point here is that the Father’s love is complete. It includes everyone.
And if Jesus criticizes incomplete love, he calls us to emulate this love of the Father. Jesus tells us to love our enemies. Why? “So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” – vs. 44-45. So that we will be like our Father. Jesus also tells us – “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” – v. 48. He means – be complete in your love like the Father is complete in his love. Our love is to include both the good and the bad, the righteous and the unrighteous.
God’s Promise
Loving enemies is not easy. It takes a real yieldedness to God, strength from the Spirit, and faith that God will take care of you. It is hard. So, as an encouragement to us, Jesus gives us a promise, which gives us hope.
In v. 45 he says that we are to love our enemies, “so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” To be a “son” is not about being male. It is not about gender, but about a certain social status – the status of an inheritor. The son inherits the Father’s blessings.
When we look at the overall context of Matthew 5:17-48 it is all about “Who will inherit the Kingdom?” “Who will gain the Father’s blessings?” Matthew 5:20 says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Then Jesus gives us the six examples of the greater righteousness necessary to enter the Kingdom, culminating in the example of enemy love.
So what Jesus is saying, is that those who don’t practice enemy love are no better than tax collectors and Gentiles. Their practice of righteousness is no different. As he says in v. 46 – “What reward do you have?”
But those who love their enemies, by God’s help, imitate the Father. And by imitating the Father, they show that they are true sons of the Father – for like Father, like son. And since they are true sons, they show that they will inherit the Father’s blessings; that is, the kingdom of God.
So in the midst of the difficulty of doing this, we have a promise of blessing and reward.
