“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat 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 asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back 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 expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. Instead, 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 himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
Luke 6:27-36 (NRSVue)
On Good Friday, how does this read?
At the cross, Luke records that the soldiers cast lots to divide his clothing. This is a somber ratification of "do not withhold even your shirt."
When we are attacked, do we have the ability to respond differently? Jesus indicates that we do.
In a Hollywood movie, what would the Son of God do to his enemies on the cross? He would call down fire from heaven and light them up!
Jesus may have been tempted by his own disciples to do this. In Luke 9:51-56, Jesus is not well-received by a Samaritan village. James and John ask him, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" Jesus rebukes them and lives out today's teaching.
We are offered a better way to light up our enemies.
It is only in Luke's Gospel that Jesus offers his enemies forgiveness from the cross. Luke 23:34 has Jesus utter before his death, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
"Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return."
Jesus lives this out on Good Friday.
And lest, we deign to think that this is unattainable behavior, Luke shows us that it is absolutely lived out by the early church. Luke also wrote the "Acts of the Apostles" as a follow-up to the Gospel.
The apostle Stephen was preaching about Jesus and his audience didn't appreciate the light in which he painted them. They took him outside the city and began to stone him. In Acts 7:60, it reports that just before Stephen died "... he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.'” Today's teaching is not a lofting goal reached only by God but is lived out by the followers of Jesus. Luke shows us that this expectation may be why the church flourished.
One of the people witnessing the stoning of Stephen was Saul who later became the apostle Paul. Most of the letters in the New Testament were written by Paul or a school of Paul's thought. Just before Paul began to start churches throughout the Mediterranean, the church was at a precipice. Would it live into this teaching? Saul was on the way to Damascus to arrest more Christians and was struck blind. In a show of irony, Jesus sends him to a Christian in Damascus named Ananias for healing.
When Jesus tells him in a vision to heal Saul, Ananias basically says, "Lord, this guy is our enemy!" As if Jesus wasn't aware of all his faults! Do we ever wrestle with doing the right thing?
Because Ananias lived out the highlighted teaching from the Sermon on the Plain, the church thrived.
Maybe in a world where enmity comes so easily today, we have an alternate path.
Rather than light up our enemies, we can show them the light of Christ that shines through an act of love on a cross. An act that gives us the strength to love.
May it be so today of all days.
Prayer for Good Friday: Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward, except that of knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer by Ignatius of Loyola, Spain, 16th Century.
Photo by Pete Lambert via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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