Loving your enemies is one of the hallmarks of the ethics of Jesus. While this is certainly not the default position of most people the motivation that underlines this command is even more startling. Jesus says that we love our enemies so that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Since God forgives, we should forgive. Since God doesn’t hold grudges, we shouldn’t either. The challenge that underlies this command arises because God cannot be hurt by anyone but our enemies can, and do, hurt us. This should alert us to the divine meaning of love. Loving another sometimes demands that we act in ways that calls them to live as a child of God. Letting someone remain in the dark place where they hurt others (and themselves) is not loving them. As God constantly urges us to grow, so we for others.
JUNE172025
By Church Staff
