"Love Your Enemies" (Luke 6:27-38)
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Watch or read this sermon.1
Luke 6:27-38
“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.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
Growing up watching and reading stories of heroes and villains, school age protagonists and their hallway bullies, I got the impression that you should probably have a nemesis wherever you go.
Such adversaries make the story more interesting, don’t they? And if someone’s my enemy, they probably deserve to be, right?
I also explained to my Sunday School teachers, “How can I love my enemies as Jesus taught, if I didn’t have any enemies?” Step one is to make some enemies!
I learned in seminary this was called a hermeneutical error…or… as my Sunday School teacher responded, “Now, what kind of foolishness is that!?”
And…come to think of it, most of the people I thought of as enemies at the time, weren’t my enemies at all.
They were classmates, opponents, co-workers– or, neighbors, as we say in Christian circles.
But for any of us, when we do have enemies, it’s probably because we’re afraid.
We’re afraid of losing control, of being hurt, or hurt again. Fear often breeds hostility, because we want to protect ourselves in some way, sometimes founded and sometimes unfounded.
But that fear can cause us to neglect the humanity of others and see them as a threat rather than a person, let alone a child of God.
But Scripture reminds us that love is our aim, our purpose, the only way to knowing God.
And “There is no fear in love…love casts out fear…”
And if that’s the case, love would cast out the label of “enemy,” too.
Besides, we don’t love our enemies because they deserve it, which is difficult to hear in a culture obsessed with deservedness.
“We love,” says the New Testament, “because God first loved us.”
That takes us to today’s Scripture reading.
We read the Newly Revised Standard Version translation, but let’s take a minute to hear it again with another translation, Eugene Peterson’s The Message.
Are you listening? Because Jesus has something to say to anyone who is listening, anyone who is ready for the truth.
27-30 “To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more payback. Live generously.
31-34 “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.
35-36 “I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
37-38 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”
Now that we have the Scripture at the front of our minds once again, I’d like to suggest that if Jesus had a publicist, editor, or manager concerned with building his reputation as a comforting teacher, I bet they’d rework this message a bit.
They’d cut it down, smooth it out, and defang it, revising it to say something like:
“Love, do good, bless, pray, offer, give, do good to those who do good to you, be merciful.”
Ahh, much nicer– warm, fuzzy, and safe. You can sew that on a pillow, sell it, and make some money at the Christian lifestyle store.
That message would get plenty of nods in focus groups and test well on the speaking circuit, much better than love those who hurt you.
And if Christianity was solely about being a nice do-gooder, this would be much clearer and representative.
But, sorry to say, Jesus employed no such public relations team. Following Christ does not guarantee that we will stay warm, fuzzy, or safe. And Christianity transcends a call to base level politeness.
Then again, I bet there’s another draft of this set of teachings that may be more appealing to a tougher sort of crowd, especially to those under the crushing weight of empire.
I feel like I’ve heard a version like this elsewhere, to be honest, something like:
“But I say to you who are listening: Hate your enemies; hurt those who hurt you, curse those who curse you; get back at those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, strike them back two-fold, and if anyone takes away your coat, get it back and take their shirt, too. Get what’s yours.
Lend only when you know you’ll get something back. Charge interest if you can. Judge, condemn, and withhold forgiveness for those who’ve done wrong ought to get what’s coming to them.”
But as tempting and ubiquitous as that version may have been and may still be today, it’s not anywhere close to the message of Jesus.
The message of Jesus is that the most important things we can do, if we are to take the life of faith seriously, are to love God with all that we have and love our neighbors as ourselves.
There’s one catch.
Your neighbor is not just those nice people you see at the block party. Your neighbor, as Jesus teaches it, is the person you can’t stand, the person you despise, the person you think doesn’t deserve love. And God loves them anyway.
Love, in the Scriptural sense, is “not a warm feeling between like minded friends, but plain old imitation of Christ.”
We’re not called to imitate our villains, our heroes, or our past selves. We’re called to imitate Jesus Christ by loving, since God first loved us, and we seek to love the way God loves us– unreasonably, unexpectedly, with incomprehensive mercy and generosity.
And I suppose much of love, and life for that matter, is imitation, and here Jesus is saying be careful who you’re imitating.
Don’t respond to hatred or violence with more of the same. If you become like your enemies, just to spite them, you haven’t won anything worth winning.
The Way of Jesus is a very different way of life – different from those who do harm, but also different from a sort of polite kindness, too.
The love of God we’re called to emulate is bolder, braver, and broader than we could ever think to offer on our own or learn from even the kindest among us.
For God has shown us through the stories of people like Saul, who once persecuted and hated Christians, that God’s mercy has no bounds, no cut-off point.
Saul, who became Paul, was transformed from a notorious enemy of Christians to one of the faith’s most passionate advocates, echoing the teachings of Jesus to love your enemies, by caring for them:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Not what you wanted to hear? Me neither.
If I wrote the Bible it would say something like God makes the sun rise on the good and sends horrible rains on the unrighteous.
But it doesn’t say that. It says…
for God makes God’s sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous
I have many questions here, and I speak to you today humbled as ever by Jesus’ teachings.
I believe in my heart of hearts that we are called to offer one another glimpses of God’s kingdom right here and now, but that is easier said than done with an instruction manual as thorny as the one we’ve been handed.
I’m not sure exactly what this looks like in every single context, and I don’t think I’m supposed to. That’s why God calls us stewards of the mystery.
I don’t know exactly what it looks like fully to love your enemy on the battlefield or at the ballot box or in the courtroom, and so many other places we find ourselves.
And Jesus’ admonition to feed our enemy who is hungry and give them a drink if they’re thirsty is something so counter to our default cultural norm.
For any of us, loving your enemies is not something we can do on our own– we’ll need the Spirit’s help.
So, think for yourself in this moment– who is your enemy? What does it mean to extend love to them?
If you come up empty on how you might do so, I think you’ve found a prayer focus for the week.
Let me be clear. Loving your enemies does not negate God’s justice and loving your enemies doesn’t mean we ignore all harm or let people continue to hurt others without accountability.
Jesus certainly showed anger at the corruption and religious malpractice, and in our baptismal and membership vows in Christ’s church we vow to stand against evil.
And still, those whom Jesus called out were also those he loved and was willing to die for, even those who committed terrible offenses…even you….even me.
So, loving our enemies does not mean tolerating abuse or encourage evil. But loving like God loves means responding with patience, forgiveness, and a heart that is open to reconciliation, even when that’s difficult.
It’s a deep, counterintuitive kind of love—one that goes beyond the surface and calls us to embody God's grace, even toward those who oppose us. But it's not something that we can do in our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us, to soften our hearts, and to remind us that God’s love is for everyone, even those we struggle to love.
In our attempts to do so, we are doing as we’re called– bringing the kingdom of God to earth.
The kingdom that Jesus preached and lived, as N.T. Wright explains,
“was all about a glorious, uproarious, and absurd generosity. Think of the best thing you can do for the worst person, and go ahead and do it. Think of what you’d really like someone to do for you, and do it for them. Think of the people to whom you are tempted to be nasty, and lavish generosity on them instead.”
But as another one of my favorite authors put it,
“There is nothing sentimental or the least bit easy about any of this. There is not even a guarantee that it will work but one thing is for sure: When we repay evil with evil, evil is all there is, in bigger and more toxic piles.”
Perhaps one place to start may be to commit to better understanding the incredible love and generosity of God in our own lives, to pay attention to God’s presence in our midst.
In doing so, we will experience thanksgiving and clarity of purpose, acknowledging we are in no position to deny a love to others that has been so freely given to us, a love that transforms us again and again.
Friends, imagine if just a few of us took this call to love, those easy to love and those challenging to love.
Imagine how much less daunting it could be to love our enemies, if we realized that they never meant to be our enemies at all.
Willow Street Church would need no public relations team, because people would know that’s something up with the people who say they follow Jesus at Willow street Church.
Bibliography
Evans, Rachel Held. "Who Are Your Enemies? How Do You LoveThem?" Rachel Held Evans, August 5, 2009. https://rachelheldevans.com/blog/enemy-love.
Henrich, Sarah. "Commentary on Luke 6:27-38." Working Preacher, February 20, 2022. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/seventh-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-luke-627-38-2.
Taylor, Barbara Brown. "Feeding the Enemy." In God in Pain. New York: HarperOne, 2010.
Wright, N.T. Luke for Everyone. 2nd ed. The New Testament for Everyone. London: SPCK, 2004.
There may be some slight differences between the written manuscript and the spoken sermon.