43 “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you 45 so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.
Reflection
People often read these verses and think that love is just a feeling, a weakness that results in passive behavior that will get us into trouble. Walking in the way of love and loving your enemy isn’t easy. This isn’t the way the world works, where we only love and care for our own circle. This passage describes the way of living and following Jesus in the Kin(g)-dom as a child of God.
Jesus is describing agape love, from the Greek, meaning the divine love of God in us, the selfless love that cares about the welfare of others, including our enemies. This kind of love is not from our own power. It comes from God. This love is not passive, it’s love in action. This love isn’t weak, it’s the transformative power of God to change hearts and lives! This is the love of God within us, that walks the extra mile, turns the cheek, rescues the lost. This love feeds the hungry and thirsty-body and soul- it heals the sick, visits prisoners, welcomes the immigrant, brings hope and justice and peace to those who suffer.
We know and have experienced the power of this love to rescue us, the broken, and transform our lives. The power of the Holy Spirit in us is so strong that we must share what the love of God has done for us. We carry it with us into the darkness, as light bearers in a world that’s lost its way. The Spirit in us calls us to proclaim God’s love.
What is this love? It is the powerful, grace filled love of Holy God given to us through Christ that sees the truth in every broken soul and says, you are loved, be healed, be transformed, you are a child of God. This love transforms the world through us, and it transforms our hearts. God’s love burst forth from the rocky tomb to bring the good news of salvation to the world and vanquished death, drying every tear into joy.
by Jeneene Reduker
For Pondering & Prayer
Children of God, we are called into this life of transformation by the Spirit to be perfected in God’s love and made complete. We love, not because we will be rewarded in heaven, but because God loves us. God is fulfilling in us the purpose to which God has called us, to be made complete in the love of God.
What can we do to show God’s love to our enemies? Each week, by God’s grace, let’s pray for them, feed them, care for them, love them, so we can be made complete by God’s love.
Prayer: Holy God, pour your Spirit out on us, to transform our hearts by your love, so that we can love as you love us and be made complete in your love. Amen.
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