Love Your Enemies - Luke 6: 27-38

The following sermon was originally preached by Andrew M at St Denys Church in February 2025

I am really glad to be looking with you at what Jesus himself had to say on the topic of love in perhaps the most famous sermon of all time – the Sermon on the Mount – or rather the excerpts that Luke recorded in his gospel.  But, you know, it is really, really tough.      

Love, 'unhate' & the 'silver rule'

The fictional Klingon language from the Star Trek movies has no words for love. The Klingons were, of course, creatures of pure logic, not emotion. So, the closest words for “love” in their language were “honour” or “unhate.”

That would be easy for us if we could define love simply as “unhating” others. 

 But Jesus doesn’t let us get away with this.  Ever the controversialist he tells us to love our enemies. In saying this he is introducing what is sometimes referred to as the Golden Rule (v31): 

 Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. 

 It’s interesting that much of the ancient world had their codes of conduct which, superficially might seem similar or quite close to Jesus’s teaching. They’re sometimes called the “Silver Rules” because they fall short of the golden rule’s standard

•  Confucius (some 500 years before Jesus) said: “Do NOT unto others what you would NOT wish done to yourself.”
• The Buddhists have a saying, “Putting oneself in the place of others, kill NOT, nor cause to kill.”
• Hinduism teaches - “Do NAUGHT unto others which could cause you pain if done to you.” Mahabharata, 5, 1517

But Jesus taught the silver rule does not go far enough. We can't simply strive to avoid evil; we must also do good.  We must love our enemies.

Essentially, they’re all saying: Leave people alone; Don’t touch them; Don’t bother them; Don’t upset them; You live in your corner - let them live in theirs - and everybody will be happy. The only problem with that is - that’s not what Jesus said. Jesus did not say “DON’T do”. He said: “DO do unto others.”

 God doesn’t let us define “love.” God doesn’t even let us decide who is worthy of our love. Listen to Jesus’ words again in v32 : For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?…

 So, the first hard-hitting lesson today is that we are called to do more than not hate.

Loving our Enemies   

Quickly Jesus goes on to spell out what this looks like in practice v27  Do good to those that hate you, bless those that curse you, pray for those who ill treat you, be prepared to be wronged more than once by someone who steals from you, be giving, do good.  Jesus is saying that we should grant our enemies the same respect and rights as we want for ourselves, even when they disrespect us and run rough-shod over our rights.

 Loving our enemies means acting in their best interests. 

 It is helpful to have all this spelt out and to try to work out what this might look like in our lives today.  But that doesn’t make it easy.  Jesus effectively admits this by saying that so-called sinners love those that love them, because they have the expectation of getting something back in return.  We are to have no such expectation.

 We do it because Jesus did it, because as his followers He calls us to do the same, and in so doing we show God’s nature and His character of love. In v35 Jesus says our reward is in being loved and being in a father-son relationship with God … who is love.

 We are called to do more than not hate.  We are shown what loving our enemies looks like.

Jesus Makes Love Possible

third thing I see in this passage is Jesus gives us the key to making this seemingly impossible love possible.  And it is in v35 where he is not talking about future rewards but our present reality – “living as sons’ of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

 Jesus doesn’t say whether loving our enemies is going to be easy or hard – it is part of the job description of being his follower and friend.  Thinking about it doesn’t make it easier.  Feeling duty-bound to make it happen won’t get us very far. 

 I think Paul spells it out helpfully for us:  “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son...” So, before we became Christians we were… enemies of God. While we were still God’s enemies, He reconciled us to Himself… by Jesus dying for us! But now - our status has changed: 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 says “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ - God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.”

 We are ambassadors for Christ. We are the workers God uses to reconcile His enemies to Himself.  We have form, we have skin in the game, as they say.  We were living lives opposed to God’s way, and now have been treated in a way we don’t deserve, and that deep, deep realisation draws us closer to the heart of God and his love for those who reject Him and His ways.

 So … this is a tough passage and I have to ask myself and perhaps we can all ask ourselves the “so what?” question.  How can we step out and make this a reality or more of a reality in our lives and experience?

Love as an Acts of Will

Firstly, if we are called to love not hate, this means action.  Jesus wasn’t talking about having affection for our enemies, he was talking about an act of the will.  It means acting in their best interests. We can pray for them and we can think of ways to help them.  We can show kindness and be generous towards them. 

Jesus moves from “Treat others the way you want to be treated” to “Treat others the way your Father treats you and … them.”  Someone reminded me last week that God’s love includes everyone … until they exclude themselves. God’s plan for forgiveness includes everyone until they exclude themselves.   

The kingdom that Jesus preached and lived was about a life of glorious, absurd generosity.  It was about doing the best thing possible for the worst person possible. 

Love as Assertive, Peaceful Justice

Secondly, through seeing Jesus’s example of love shown in His life, it doesn’t mean all our enemies become our friends or come to accept us.  But it also doesn’t mean that we accept their views or hostility.  You can love your enemy while also assertively standing up for personal rights, including protecting yourself and others, and expressing thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in direct, honest, and appropriate ways.

 The word nonviolent is an adjective - it modifies how we resist being treated unjustly by others. It does not mean being a push-over but rather seeking justice in the most peaceful way possible.  As Bishop Desmond Tutu said, “a justice-seeking people is more dangerous to a tyrant than an arms-bearing one”.

Love Invests in Jesus and our Relationship With Him

And finally, how do we do what may still seem the impossibly hard thing that we are called to do?  I guess this is what I have been reflecting on and wrestling with most this past week. 

 I haven’t asked you who your particular enemies are at this time, but some will be thinking of people who have in the past harmed them in really bad ways and may be continuing to do so.  Not just been unkind or unhelpful or oppositional, but truly damaging. It’s a massive step to go from Silver to Gold, from wishing them no harm to loving them.  No Olympic athlete is aiming for silver.  How do we aim for Gold, that seemingly impossible standard that God calls us to? 

 It can only be by focusing on Jesus and our relationship with Him.  Spend more and more time doing this, growing the realisation of what an amazing God we have and what an amazing thing he has done for us, and the HS will be at work in us, changing us and  helping us to see people as he sees them and … giving us His heart for them.  We cannot do it on our own, but if we want to do it he will make it come about.

 Mother Teresa of Calcutta put it this way:  “Open your hearts to the love God instils – God loves you tenderly.  What He gives you is not to be kept under lock and key, but to be shared”.

 One of our sons has been staying with us last week with his family, and when we were chatting about this, he told me about one of the prayers he regularly uses which he finds really helpful. And it contains this line: When I lack attentive care for my neighbour, remind me how you laid down your life for me while I was still an enemy.

 Prayer: (taken from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Enuma Okoro, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Shane Claiborne)

 When the day stretches out before me and I am tempted to despair, Encourage my soul through rhythms of prayer and work

 When I imagine my life would be easier if only I was somewhere else, help me not to flee but to trust your grace in this place

 When I lack attentive care for my neighbour, remind me how you laid down your life for me while I was still an enemy …

 So that I might greet that of you in every person, and know the place where I am standing is holy ground

 Amen