Loving your enemies is obeying Jesus Christ!

Today's Sunday Gospel passage is a continuation of last Sunday's Gospel reading on the Sermon on the Plain. This specific Bible passage separates Christianity from the rest of all the other known religions on this world as our Lord Jesus Christ shows his divinity by teaching something so difficult for humanity to fathom...to Love his Enemies! From the time Cain slew his brother Abel, man has not found peace because of humankind's inborn envy, revenge and hatred for one another. Even today, people kill one another for no apparent reason. Worst of all, some people go on suicide missions to blow themselves up and others believing that this would bring them martyrdom and bring them directly to heaven. So let's listen to what our Lord has to say about our enemies, which you will find in Luke 6:27-38.

"27 But to you who hear 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 To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who ask of you, and from the one who takes what is your do not demand it back.

31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 For 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 do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. 35 But rather, love you enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back, then 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. 36 Be merciful just as [also] your Father is merciful.

37 Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. 38 Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."

I may not be well-read or as learned as those church theologians, but I have never read or come across a book about anyone who said all of these things before our Lord Jesus Christ taught this to his disciples. It is for this very passage that many people believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah that God promised to bring down to us. His message no doubt is difficult to fathom, especially when you are at the bitter end of the argument or worse, when someone kills a member of your family and forgiveness is nowhere to be found in the radar screen.

Mind you, our Lord Jesus Christ taught this to the Jews more than 2,000 years ago and since they have rejected Jesus Christ as the expected Messiah, you can see how the Jews were strewn about the whole of Europe, which is why they're called "The Wandering Jew". But in 1947 the State of Israel was reestablished, yet today, they have never had a moment of peace from their Palestinian neighbors simply because they are blind to the teachings of the most famous Jew of all, our Lord Jesus Christ. If the Jews learned how to love their enemies, perhaps they will finally see peace.

While these words of Jesus Christ come from divinity itself, you can still find some logic into it. For instance, everyone knows in their hearts what the "Golden Rule" is, "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you." Since I was a little boy, I have always known about the "Golden Rule" but I never realized that this passage came from our Lord Jesus Christ until I started reading the Bible. This gives truism to what people say that to know the Bible is to know Christ.

Another interesting point is when our Lord Jesus said, "For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured to you." If you put a very high standard to others, you can be sure that when others judge you, it will be from the very same standards that you measured others. So be careful in doing so as you might not measure up to the very standards you set for others.

The most difficult teaching of the whole Christendom is what our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us... "to love your enemies... do good to those who hate you... or pray for those who mistreat you." I submit that this is where most Christians fail miserably... especially when I see Catholics and Protestants kill each other in Ireland. What about you? Do you profess to be a good Catholic, but yet you harbor a deep-seated hatred to your neighbor or a best friend? Mind you, this passage is embodied in the Lord's Prayer, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." I have always known that it is not easy to be a Christian. But if what our Lord Jesus teaches us brings us to life eternal, then we must follow and obey him.

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