Love Your Enemies
As we continue to look at what it means to serve others, think for a moment of the most disgusting person who has hurt you the worst. The person may have betrayed you. They may have damaged you morally, emotionally or physically. Now listen to what Jesus told us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus is being tested by a Lawyer. In that culture, a lawyer was an expert in the laws laid out in Scripture and the interpretive teachings of the rabbis over the centuries. The lawyer began by asking Jesus, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life.” In other words, what must I do to be saved or enter into your Kingdom? Jesus asked him what his interpretation of the law was. The man stated, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said that he was correct. Then the lawyer asked another question, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus told him a parable about a man who has been robbed, stripped of his clothing, beaten almost to death, and left to die on the side of the road. Two of his fellow countrymen, who were religious leaders, saw him. Those two religious leaders, a priest and a Levite, probably felt sorry for the man but the Levitical law stated they had to avoid anyone deemed unclean. This man, left bleeding and near death, fit the category of being unclean. If they rendered assistance, they too would be unclean and could not perform their ceremonial duties in the temple until they went through the process of being cleansed. So they passed by him on the other side of the road.
Then a Samaritan came by. Samaritans only believed in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). They strongly believed in a literal interpretation of the law, much like the priest and Levite. So Samaritans would have deemed the man who was robbed to be unclean too.
In addition, Samaritans and Jews hated each other. They both risked their lives when traveling through the others territory. Nevertheless, in spite of his upbringing of a strict literal interpretation of the Torah and in spite of the man who was robbed being a Jew, the Samaritan stopped and rendered aid to that beaten man. To serve him, it cost him personally of his time, his resources, and his money.
When Jesus asked the Lawyer who was a neighbor to that half dead man, the Lawyer responded, “the one who showed mercy”. Jesus simply responded, “Go and do likewise.”
What Jesus was saying was, “Go be a good neighbor by loving your enemy. Do something good to that person that you despise and despises you.”
How often do we think it is our right to bear a grudge against someone who has hurt us.
I’m not trying to excuse their behavior nor am I suggesting that you should either. But that doesn’t mean that we are not to do something good for them. Serve them in some meaningful way because the whole point of what Jesus is saying is that if you want to be in His Kingdom, you have to love your enemy.
These are your Words for Wednesday. Have a great rest of your week!
In Christ,
Kevin
In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus is being tested by a Lawyer. In that culture, a lawyer was an expert in the laws laid out in Scripture and the interpretive teachings of the rabbis over the centuries. The lawyer began by asking Jesus, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life.” In other words, what must I do to be saved or enter into your Kingdom? Jesus asked him what his interpretation of the law was. The man stated, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said that he was correct. Then the lawyer asked another question, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus told him a parable about a man who has been robbed, stripped of his clothing, beaten almost to death, and left to die on the side of the road. Two of his fellow countrymen, who were religious leaders, saw him. Those two religious leaders, a priest and a Levite, probably felt sorry for the man but the Levitical law stated they had to avoid anyone deemed unclean. This man, left bleeding and near death, fit the category of being unclean. If they rendered assistance, they too would be unclean and could not perform their ceremonial duties in the temple until they went through the process of being cleansed. So they passed by him on the other side of the road.
Then a Samaritan came by. Samaritans only believed in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). They strongly believed in a literal interpretation of the law, much like the priest and Levite. So Samaritans would have deemed the man who was robbed to be unclean too.
In addition, Samaritans and Jews hated each other. They both risked their lives when traveling through the others territory. Nevertheless, in spite of his upbringing of a strict literal interpretation of the Torah and in spite of the man who was robbed being a Jew, the Samaritan stopped and rendered aid to that beaten man. To serve him, it cost him personally of his time, his resources, and his money.
When Jesus asked the Lawyer who was a neighbor to that half dead man, the Lawyer responded, “the one who showed mercy”. Jesus simply responded, “Go and do likewise.”
What Jesus was saying was, “Go be a good neighbor by loving your enemy. Do something good to that person that you despise and despises you.”
How often do we think it is our right to bear a grudge against someone who has hurt us.
I’m not trying to excuse their behavior nor am I suggesting that you should either. But that doesn’t mean that we are not to do something good for them. Serve them in some meaningful way because the whole point of what Jesus is saying is that if you want to be in His Kingdom, you have to love your enemy.
These are your Words for Wednesday. Have a great rest of your week!
In Christ,
Kevin
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