Luke 6:27-36
Love for Enemies
27 “But to you who are listening 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 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “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 are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
When we read the Gospels, we see love is a theme in each of the Gospels...So as we read Luke's Gospel we recognize God's LOVE...Throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus emphasizes God's LOVE and compassion for all people, and not just to a few people -but love for everybody...He teaches us that we are to even love our enemies...So Jesus commands us if we just love those who love us, what credit is that to you?...Even sinners love those who love them...And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?...Even sinners do that...
So we are to love everyone...And this message of love even extends to ourselves...We see it in the Golden Rule...Do to others as you would have them do to you...By acknowledging and accepting God's Unconditional LOVE, we can develop a more positive self-image for ourselves and learn to treat ourselves with the same kindness and understanding we would offer to others we love...And we are commanded by Jesus to love God and to love our neighbors...
"Do to others as you would have them do to you."...This timeless teaching emphasizes the importance of empathy and reciprocity and love for others...By learning how we would like to be treated by others, we will cultivate a greater sense of fairness and understanding towards ourselves and others...We learn from the Golden Rule not only about self-care and self-compassion, we learn about the principles that provide a valuable foundation for developing a kinder and more accepting relationship with both ourselves and for others...Because if we do not love ourselves, it is hard to love others...
Jesus teaches us the way we should treat others...Treat others as we want to be treated...By incorporating these beliefs into our daily lives, we can cultivate a deeper sense not only of our self-worth and embrace our imperfections, but we can better love others as part of the human journey of life...And hopefully in this learning process we come to love our enemies...Let us to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful toward all our neighbors...