Loving Our Enemies??

 

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; (perhaps) because generally they are the same people.  G.K. Chesterton

 

Next Sunday, we will turn to another amazing story in Luke’s gospel on the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).  Both the Prodigal Family and Good Samaritan are unique to Luke, only found in his Gospel.  Both are poignant and powerful and point to the story God is seeking to author in our lives.  Both remind us of our beautiful brokenness and the promise of healing.  The above quote from Chesterton is a great connection between the two passages – a bridge that can link the two parables.  Sometimes our enemies don’t just live next door, but under the same roof or share the same family tree roots!  We live in a world where divisiveness is so pervasive that we struggle to listen to someone who is different, and loving the other feels is too demanding.  Perhaps this is because we don’t really love ourselves.  Our brokenness is not what we hear on the news, but is within us ~ and this makes us uneasy and queasy and we will do anything to stop the ache.  We find it more acceptable to stay in our isolated tribes of people like us, then to reach out to someone else.  Loving our enemies has never been easy or particularly popular.  We may say we agree with loving our enemies only to struggle to live that out in our lives each day.  If we hear this life-changing invitation of Jesus as central to the Gospel, how might these words re-write our story?  Pro tip: this will not make you famous, gain followers on social media, or even be appreciated by others.  We don’t love our enemies as a strategy but because the presence of God so compels our souls.  There is no money back guarantee on love that will promise to make you smarter, happier, or admired.  But like anger and fear, love is a potent fuel to feed our lives.  Your words and actions have an energy, an undercurrent, waves that can guide you.  Are you being guided closer to others or are the waves of the world separating your boat of life from others?  Are you being guided to reach out, as the Good Samaritan, or just pass by others you encounter on life’s road?

 

The prayer posture and practice is to notice the person in front of you.  This means at the store, doctor’s office, walking in your neighborhood, and at the dinner table.  This also means the people you are reading online or listening to in the car.  This means the voices internally and externally.  To be awake and aware of who is inhabiting the world and whose energy you are interacting with as you go about this day.  May this prayer practice help you be open to God who often comes to us in ways that interrupt and disrupt us with a presence.  May you especially be open to those on the fringes and frays, those who are in the ditch like the Good Samaritan (or like the younger son who was in the mucky mud of life).  May this help us love our neighbors, enemies, family, friends, and ourselves in such a time as this.  Amen.