How Do We Love our Enemies? – 20 February 2022
Blogger’s note: This meditation on Luke 6, the Gospel reading for this Sunday, is so timely and so pointed, that we offer it in place of our usual blogs that also include readings from the Hebrew Bible and the Epistles. The writer, a Christian scholar, has studied Hinduism and Buddhism extensively, has lived in India for several years, and now focuses, among other topics, on the Hindu-Christian encounter. Because of his experience world-wide, he presents a critical view of Jesus’ calling people of faith to love, bless, and pray for those who oppose us.–– Melinda Quivik
Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. (Luke 6:30)
Luke 6:27–38
How does loving our enemies relate to God’s glory and kingship? Do they have anything to do with each other? How did Jesus’ love for his enemies fit with Jesus’ glory? Is it really possible to see them as separate and unrelated in the gospel readings? The cross stands for both Christ’s love and glory. If we are to be followers of this Christ, this God, then what does the cross mean for us? Perhaps loving our enemies has more to do with God’s glory than we are used to thinking. If we hold our love and God’s glory apart from each other or simply don’t recognize the connection, then we fall into the same trap that so many of Jesus’ listeners did – recognizing the Messiah but not understanding what that actually meant.
In many parts of the world this instruction is uncomfortably relevant, especially when it’s not clear how to best follow it. Those of us who live in places where the phenomenon of begging seems far away may have a hard time seeing the genuine problem here. If this is the case, we’re not truly listening or paying attention to the world around us. The absence of beggars in a gated community is not a sign of general well-being but rather of successful isolation. If we cannot hear cries for help and aid around us, we need to reflect on how we’ve become so separate from the rest of the world.
If our ears are open and we do hear the cacophony of cries around us, we face another challenge. How do we responsibly respond? Give to everyone who begs? This is as radical as Jesus’ words earlier in Luke – anyone with two coats must share with someone who has none (Luke 3.11). How many of us have more than one coat in our closet? This sounds too radical and undiscerning to leave an effective mark on the world. All kinds of objections to Jesus’ words spring to mind: charity can encourage laziness, such giving isn’t sustainable, we’ll only be exploited if we can’t say “no,” etc.
Some objections are not simply rationalizations; there genuinely are problems and disadvantages with some forms of charity and giving. But rather than immediately dismiss Jesus’ instruction here as impractical and irrelevant, we could simply dwell in this uncomfortable dilemma.
At the end of a sermon, rather than give an easy answer or instruction to the congregation, what would happen if they see clearly and are left to dwell with a real and uncomfortable problem? In such a dilemma, genuinely asking for God’s wisdom and guidance might be more effective than forcing ourselves into a guilt trip.
On another note, at a time when the “prosperity gospel” enjoys great popularity in America, where and how do these words of Jesus fit? Is helping the poor, as some televangelists say, simply a path to our own greater wealth? How ought we, especially as preachers, to be engaged with such prosperity, messages that parishioners often hear on TV, the radio or in other popular “Christian media”? –– Jon M. Keune
Jon Keune, an associate professor in the religion department of Michigan State University, East Lansing, was previously a postdoctoral fellow in India Studies at the University of Houston and approved for ordination as a pastor in the ELCA.
Homily Service 40, no. 3 (2007): 26–40.