The Gospel of Luke-Pt.18: “Love who? My Enemies!”
I walked through hell this week. My personal world was on fire and everyone unloaded their problems on me. I ended the week with the weight of the world upon my shoulders.
Let me ask you, ‘What kind of week did I have?’ Yes, you would be correct if you said things like, it was difficult, demanding, burdensome, all those.
Now, what if I said; ‘I experienced a little bit of heaven this week. In my quiet times the angels sang and everyone I met had a volume of encouragements to give me. I ended the week walking on clouds.
Let me ask you again, ‘What kind of week did I have?’ Joyful, blessed, up-lifting. Yes, all those would be true.
Was anyone’s first thoughts, ‘He’s lying. No one could have such a bad week or good week?’Probably not.
The truth is I had a very normal week. I used these examples to demonstrate a very important interpretive principal to understand the Bible. That principle is found in the language, the words used to describe events. In describing my week I used hyperbole or “rhetorical overstatement, or positive exaggeration.” I used certain words to catch your attention or shock you so you would better grasp my meaning. “In the case of hyperbole this is exactly the case, since exaggeration often shocks the recipients, alerts them to the importance of the message and invites them to take it more seriously and act accordingly.”
It is not lying if I was communicating the truth of a hard or blessed week. But the hyperbole brought emphasis and color and a drama that engaged you and prepared you for the worst or the best explanation.
It is a perfectly acceptable use of language and one that’s common. “The whole world is upset with that official who failed to call a penalty in the Saints-Rams playoff game!” You understand that I mean a lot of people, but not the whole world.That’s hyperbole.
One of the first principles of proper interpretation of Scripture is to determine what the genre is. There are many types of literary methods in the Bible; Narrative, Poetry, Apocalyptic, Parable, Prophetic, Proverb, etc. Within each of these different genre there are differing rhetorical devises or figures of speech of which one is hyperbole. Hyperbole is an exaggeration used to produce strong feelings and strong impressions but not to be taken literally.
I literally did not walk through hell, or carry the weight of the world, and not everyone encouraged me with volumes, nor did I hear angels singing or walk on a cloud. But by using hyperbolic language you understood that this was a far different week than a normal week.
Jesus often resorted to extreme exaggeration in order to drive home his points and to get his hearers to ask questions and see their world from a new perspective.
In perhaps the hardest teaching of the New Testament, Jesus lays out what the Kingdom Practices look like. Last we looked at Kingdom Promises. Today, we look at perhaps the most radical teaching in the Counter-cultural content of this Sermon on the plain or Sermon on the Mount. Radical, and the seemingly most unreasonable command in the New Testament. In fact, it seems impossible. It goes against the very fiber of our being.
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Matthew adds;
“You have heard it said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies…”
ON this verse in Matthew, John MacArthur writes;
“He (Jesus) is saying, “Your tradition tells you,” verse 43, “love your neighbor and hate your enemies.” That’s what you’ve learned. You have learned that there is a justification for hatred. You’ve learned that there is a place for vilification, and animosity, and bitterness, and revenge, and resentment. You’ve been told that your pride is justified and your prejudice is allowable. You’ve been told that there are some people you well should hate.”
Then Jesus undercuts all that thinking and says,
“But I tell you: Love your enemies…”
Jesus said a number of very hard things, so hard in fact that after teaching that He was the bread of life in Jn.6:66 it reads;
“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”
Before speaking on what Jesus is saying in this passage, I want to say right up front what he is not saying. That’s because all of you right now are thinking of exceptions to his words and circumstances that would justify not loving our enemies, and those thoughts will keep us from hearing what he is actually saying.
The first question we are confronted with is this; Should we take this literally and absolutely? If so then we should be loving Hitler and the Nazis; the Isis terrorists; the mass murderer of children. Is that what Jesus wants? I don’t think so. Some may use the cliche, “Hate the sinner, but love the sinner.” The problem is that statement is fluid and often contrary to Scripture. Sin is not an external entity that we get infected with. It has to do with moral or immoral decisions the person makes. At the judgement it is not sin that is condemned but the sinner. I can’t say, hate the gas chambers but love Hitler. D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones commented that by taking these sayings literally;
“…it would be a very simple thing to show that if that is carried out in every respect, we should arrive at an interpretation which is not only ridiculous but impossible.”
If we should not take these commands literally, how should we understand them? Throughout much of the Sermon Jesus uses hyperbole. Many times we see this quite easily. Mt.5:27-30 speaks about;
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out…
If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off…
We understand those commands are not to be taken literally. We understand it is hyperbolic language used to emphasize the importance of avoiding sin at all costs. Another example is in both Matthew and Luke reads;
Why do you look at the speck in your brothers eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye?
Again, this is not to be understood literally for no one can have a plank or log in their eye. Jesus uses hyperbole to magnify the truth that we need to examine ourselves first.
All throughout this discourse Jesus is using hyperbolic language. His point was to move his listeners from an accepted norm to a heightened norm by declaring an overstatement. In the Matthew passage it reads;
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you; Love your enemies…”
To the Jew their neighbor was their fellow Jew. The more closely defined and narrowed the definition the better. Jesus, wanting to heighten the norm and raise the bar, then states, “I tell you ‘Love your enemies!”
The challenge is to know when he is using hyperbole and when he is not. This would take us into a study of Hermeneutics, or the science of interpretation which I cannot go into. So let me briefly give you the most basic principles that we can apply to any passage of Scripture.
To begin, always start by understanding it literally unless you encounter some of the following principles that point in a different direction.
First, Does a literal understanding conflict with Scriptural teaching elsewhere? This is referred to as the ‘Analogy of Faith.’
Second, is it an absolute or are there exceptions in Scripture?
Third, Does God or Jesus adhere to the command?
Fourth, What is the genre?
Fifth, What is the historical context?
Sixth, is the language universal such as, everyone, always, all, etc.
So is the phrase, “Love your enemies” to be understood in a literal absolute manner or as hyperbole? Many of the peace churches who advocate pacifism take this literally. They will not serve in the armed forces, or not in combat. Some say they will not even use force to protect themselves or their family from attacks. Did Jesus mean this in an absolute, literal command? Does God follow this? Are there exceptions in Scripture? Even the famous pacifist, Rev.Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died in a German concentration camp, participated in an attempt to assassinate Hilter.
Consider some of these passages;
When Nehemiah was building the walls of Jerusalem and his enemies threatened, we read in ch.4:13;
“Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows…V.18, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.”
Those weapons were not there as decorations!
Eccl. 3:8 “ a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
Ps.5:5 “The arrogant cannot stand in your presence.You hate all who do wrong;”
Ps.11:5 “The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.”
Ps.97:10 “Let those who love the Lord hate evil…”
David, the apple of God’s eye, said in Ps. 139:21-22;
“Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.”
But, maybe you think, “Pastor Bob, that’s the Old Testament. Jesus brings grace in the New Testament.”
Jesus did say, “Bless those who curse you…” But we read in Mt.23 Jesus saying;
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites,..you snakes! You brood of vipers…”
Not the language of blessing or grace but of judgement.
1 Pet.3:12 reads, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous…but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
In Rev. 2:6, Jesus is speaking to the church at Ephesus and says;
“But you have this in your favor; You hate the practices of the Nicolatians, which I also hate.”
These examples show us that we must take Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon not as a literal absolute but as qualified, hyperbolic statements. There are times when hate is called for and enemies resisted. Even the very conservative John McArthur acknowledges;
“If the Sermon is to be appropriated it must be recognized that there is an element of hyperbole in its statements. But this must not be so stressed that the demands lose their radical character.”
However, though Jesus is using hyperbole we must recognize that Jesus is still raising the bar and expecting much more from his followers than they realized. His call to love your enemies is still a call to love those we find unloveable. Who might these enemies be? Within the historical context we find Matthew specifically names two groups; tax collectors and pagans or Gentiles. Lukes simply refers to these as ‘sinners.’ Both Matthew and Luke imply a third group, Roman soldiers. Remember Israel was an occupied country ruled by Rome. A number of statements in Matthew speak directly to behavior in dealing with Roman soldiers, such as “going the extra mile.”
The love Jesus calls for here is the Greek word, agape. As one author defined it; “Agape love is a compassionate or merciful love, an unquenchable goodwill that is given without the traditional emotional baggage.” It is love motivated by the will, not the feelings. This is the love God shows His children. In the face of our enemies hatred he calls us to do good to them.
Bless those who curse you. Consider, “Ancient greetings for both Jews and Gentiles expressed some kind of blessing. The Hebrew greeting shalom wished the peace from divine favor on the one being greeted. Some Jews did not want to pronounce a greeting to their enemy since they feared it might result in the enemy’s success and prosperity.” Jesus says bless them anyway. For us it may mean giving a cheery ‘Good morning’ and being civil even to the one who shows you distain.
Pray for those who mistreat you. This is similar to the previous statement. Jews had many foreign enemies such as Samaritans and Gentiles, principally Rome. They would not entertain the idea of praying anything good for them. Yet, even those who treat us badly, we should pray for them. We should pray that their hearts might be changed and that God would be merciful to them that they might be saved. Jesus’ point is, if we are called to pray for those you mistreat or persecute us, is there anyone we should not be praying for? In this light, how petty is it to refuse to pray for someone because we had an argument or hold a grudge.
Then there is the famous “Turn the other cheek” phrase.
“If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other.”
Matthew makes an important point; “If someone strikes you on the RIGHT cheek, turn to him the other.”
This has nothing to do with a physical attack. This speaks to a common practice among the Jews and has to do with being insulted. To strike the right cheek, one used the back of the right hand. This was a sign of the highest insult and brought public humiliation. Again, if we took this to be literal, we would be encouraging further insult. But understanding it as hyperbole we see that it simply means NOT to retaliate when insulted. It does mean you can’t defend yourself from an accusation. It means you do not exchange insults or seek revenge. Peter uses Jesus as an example here. In 1Pet.2:23 he writes;
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate;”
Today, we don’t insult someone by slapping them on the cheek, we do it in texts and on social media! The insults and incivility are rampant, vicious and hurtful even leading some young people to commit suicide! Jesus tells us, turn away from it, don’t engage and do not stoop to their level. Then he goes on;
“If someone takes you cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you do not demand it back.”
Here again we should not understand this as a literal absolute for that would be to condone thievery. Commentator Leon Morris pointed out;
“If Christians took this command literally there would soon be a class of saintly paupers, owning nothing, and another of prosperous idlers and thieves. It is not this that Jesus is seeking, but a readiness among his followers to give and give and give.”
But there may be a singular moment when, out of love, we do this very thing. I am reminded of Victor Hugo’s famous novel, then movie and great broadway play Les Miserable, my favorite play. The main character, Jean Valjean, being released from prison after 19 years for stealing bread, is taken in by a priest, fed a hot meal and invited to stay the night in the church. During the night he steals all the church silverware and runs off. He is captured and brought to the priest. The guards say, “This man said you gave him this silverware?” At this critical moment, the priest puts this teaching into practice. He says, ‘Yes, I did and thank you for returning for you forgot these two candlesticks as well, and he hands the silver candlesticks to him and he is released. Of course that expression of love turns Valjean’s life around. The point is to enlarge our hearts to others need.
Jesus then summarizes his points in the one, great statement known as the Golden Rule;
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
There is something uniquely special in this rule in that it is stated in a positive, pro-active manner. Many similar statements have been made by others but always in the negative, as a ‘do not.’ Hillel, the great Rabbi said;
“What is hateful to thee, do not do to another.”
The Stoics held,
“What you do not wish to be done to yourself, do not do to any other.”
Confucius said the same thing. But ‘not doing’ something to someone we dislike is not a real challenge. We can just avoid them. Jesus raised the bar by telling his followers to “Do to others…” Be active, stepping towards that person rather than avoiding them. This was counter-cultural then and it is counter-cultural today.
The church is different than the world and it should look and behave differently. John Stott wrote;
“No comment could be more hurtful to the Christian than the words, ‘But you are no different from anybody else.’
Jesus speaks to that as he contrasts what ‘sinners’ normally do.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.”
That type of behavior is typical, it’s what one expects in the world. But Jesus wants more. He wants our behavior to far surpass the expected and reflect a higher, Christ-like love. Love is the key motivator in all our interactions with people, both friend and foe. So Jesus repeats his command;
“Love your enemies, do good to them and lend without expecting pay back.”
Jesus is not telling us to be doormats, but doorways through which others can glimpse the Kingdom of God! Jesus was not a doormat. At times he was quite forceful and spoke out against injustice, hypocrisy and his own ill treatment. Loving your enemy does not mean you have to add them to your Christmas list, or make them your best friend. Though over time you might. It doesn’t mean you excuse their actions, or forget they ever happened. It doesn’t start with one’s feelings but in one’s will to show a consideration they don’t deserve.
Martin Luther King, Jr., writing from jail made a point;
“Hate multiplies hate…love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
Powerful words indeed! Remember, the reward for our efforts will be great. Every time we follow Christ’s teaching we become more like him, like his child. Why? Because we imitate Him and He shows love towards His enemies. There is his “common grace.” A general benevolent kindness to all his creation and all people as expressed in the Matthew passage 5:45;
“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
That is a kindness and we are to show a similar loving kindness to others. Simple kindnesses, giving the benefit of the doubt, and certainly not retaliating in kind are the ‘more’ Jesus is looking for.
The goal is to be “merciful, just as your Father in heaven is merciful”
Mercy is NOT getting what we deserve. Grace is GETTING what we don’t deserve. God shows us both in Christ. Before you write off an enemy as hopeless, mean and not deserving your time, let alone your love, remember, it was God’s agape love, His grace, based in His will, not his feelings, that befriended you and other believers according to his purpose, and accomplishes our salvation. Rom.5:10 reads;
“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
While we were enemies! While we either ignored God or hated him and his church, while we were foul-mouthed, lying, cheating, selfish, abusive, self-righteous people, God stepped towards us. Before faith everyone is an enemy of God, dead in their sin. Yet, God did not let us stay enemies, but took a step towards us with his saving grace.
And Eph.2:3-5 states;
“ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
By seeking to practice these teachings we draw closer to the Christ-like perfection God desires for us. By putting these kingdom teachings into practice we also become counter-cultural beacons of difference in a cookie-cutter world of sameness. So, Who is your enemy? Who are you at odds with today? Who has mistreated you? Show you are God’s child and love that person, show kindness to that person, take a step towards that person. As His children, let those who look at us say, “Like Father, like child!”
