Wow, what a chapter! It begins with Jesus proclaiming that He is Lord of the Sabbath. (The Sabbath means far more than just taking one day off from work to rest. It means a deep rest, a profound peace. When Jesus says He is LORD of the Sabbath, He means He is our deep rest and our eternal peace.)
Then Jesus calls His disciples together and chooses 12 to be His closest. He calls them apostles. For the remainder of the chapter, Luke recounts an abbreviated version of the Sermon on the Mount. A large portion of that is dedicated to loving our enemies.
“But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you…. For He is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” [Luke 6:27, 35b-36 HCSB]
Sometimes Christians can be cavalier about “loving our enemies.” We all know what Jesus said. We even think we are doing it. But are we really? Or are we choosing which of “our enemies” to love?
It is easy to love your enemies if you get to choose which ones – because we will usually choose as enemies those who are just a little irritating or annoying. We seldom choose to love those who can do immeasurable harm to us, or those with whom we have major disagreements. (Think political figures we disagree with, or those on the other side of the virus and vaccine debates, or those who hate Christianity and seek to stamp it out.)
But Jesus was specific. We are to do good to those who hate us. We are to bless those who curse us (and those who curse our God). We are to pray for those who abuse us.
We are to be merciful simply because our Father is merciful (and has extended that mercy to His greatest enemies – us!)
