Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28
A true tragedy, larger and sadder even than any of the social issues that concern us today, is a heart with no room to take in the good. I wonder if this tragedy might actually be at the root of the other things in our world that seem to always be going wrong.
In pondering Jesus’ words in Luke 6, I found myself asking if perhaps I was on the other side of the command. From our first days in Sunday school, we hear the admonishment to love our enemies. To do good. To bless. To pray, and to turn the other cheek. If I were to evaluate my success at following Jesus’ teaching, I would have to confess that I would receive a failing grade. Less than 50 percent of the instruction is followed less than 50 percent of the time. An F. That doesn’t look so good on the saintly report card.
If I, if you, if we, fail to love and bless and pray, then does that lead to the conclusion that perhaps I am the enemy, the hater, the one doing the cursing, the one mistreating someone else? Hmm. How do we know which side of Jesus’ instruction we stand on? Is it possible to raise our grade in the class of compassion and live in such a way that even though we may not feel like doing these things, we recognize the situations in which they are needed and we are at least willing to follow the teaching?
No one will do it perfectly. Everyone struggles to love enemies or to remember in prayer the person who knows how to make life miserable over and over again.
But there are ways to grow in love.
We must empty the heart of pride so that we can give as well as receive. Then we must decide with God what doing good looks like, and remember that standard so that negative responses don’t cause us pain.
Use written prayers to pray in those times when we don’t know how to pray for a difficult person, or when we don’t feel like praying. Let the written prayer speak for us before the throne of God.
Remember the golden rule. This sounds trite, but it works. Do to others as you would have them do to you. When that angry retaliation wants to slip from your mouth, clamp your teeth together and pause. If you wouldn’t want to hear the words pressing on your tongue, then you’d better not say them to anyone else, either. But, if you would be helped or made to feel special, knowing you are blessed and prayed for, then you should try to also give those gifts away. What joy flows from knowing we were loved by someone in this way even though we can recall from the past ways we hurt them. This is what grace looks like, and it spreads when we choose to give.
Forget. The wrongs from last year, last week, or even an hour ago have no place in the present. Let them roll off. We belong to a Lord who loves us deeply, so any lack of respect or heartless treatment has no power to define us or determine our response. We can live as people who shine with grace and love all the time because he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (I John 4:4).
After attempting to practice these things, what is the good that we start to receive? It can be called so many things such as higher levels of compassion, patience, a deeper sense of confidence that we are taken care of, and a stronger desire to share these good things with others. We can’t do it if we are full of pride or holding onto grudges. Take courage and forgive, let go, and bless the others around you. Then our hearts will be good, and they will be full of good.
Written prayers from the Book of Common Prayer
O God, you made us in your own image, and you have redeemed us through your son Jesus Christ. Look with compassion on us all. Take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts. Break down the walls that separate us. Unite us in the bonds of love, and work through our struggles and confusion to accomplish your purposes. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Merciful Savior, you loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, hallowing their home with your sacred presence. Bless my home, I pray, that your love may rest upon us, and that your presence may dwell with us. May we all grow in grace and in the knowledge of you, our Lord and Savior. Teach us to love one another as you have commanded. Help us to bear one another’s burdens, O blessed Jesus, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
