Most of us find it hard enough to love our friends! If we are brutally honest with ourselves, our desire for self-protection and self-advancement is so strong that we often fail to love the people we say we love as well as we should. We are willing to help our family up to a point, but we have our limits. We only have so much time, money, and emotional energy to spare. If we find it difficult to love our family and friends, how could we ever love our enemies?
Ernest Gordon wrestled with this very question during World War II while he was suffering in the infamous Japanese work camp on the River Kwai. Harsh conditions had already brought him to the brink of death, and then he was headed to the dreaded “Death House,” a prison built at the lowest point of the camp. The heavy rains turned the floor into a sea of mud and sewage. The men suffered from a combination of lice, tropical ulcers, and open and untreated wounds. The place reeked from the smells of rotting human flesh. In his own words, “This was the lowest level of life.”
In God’s providence, and through the compassion of his army buddies, Gordon did not die, but survived. More than that, he had many other men in his camp come to faith in Jesus Christ. They learned to love each other. Yet they still found it impossible to love their enemies. As Gordon writes:
We had learned from the gospels that Jesus had his enemies just as we had ours. But there was this difference: he loved his enemies. He prayed for them. Even as the nails were being hammered through his hands and feet, he cried out, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ We hated our enemies. We could see how wonderful it was that Jesus forgave this way. Yet for us to do the same seemed beyond our attainment! (Ryken 268)
Whether it seems beyond attainment or not, today’s Scripture reading reveals that Jesus has called all of us to love our enemies!
Love Thy Enemies (27-28)
Jesus is still preaching the sermon on the plain. After he pronounced his blessings on the down and out and his woes on the self-sufficient, he continues to highlight the new ethics of his kingdom by telling his followers to love their enemies. He begins this teaching with four power-packed imperative commands: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.”
Look at the ways Jesus calls us to show love! To “do good to those who hate” is to love with our actions, doing good to those who do us wrong. To “bless those who curse” is to love with our speech, using gentle words of grace when people speak to us in anger. To “pray for those who abuse” is to love with our hearts and the benefit of the person’s soul.
We can know whether or not we are following Jesus’ commands by asking ourselves some questions like, “When was the last time I went out of my way to do something kind for someone I don’t like? How do I respond when someone criticizes me or says something cruel? How often do I really pray for people who have hurt me?
Who are your enemies? Fortunately, most of us are not engaged in a war with another person, but I would almost guarantee that everyone one of us has someone in our life who is difficult to love. Will you follow Jesus’ command? Will you actively love your enemies?
Turn the Other Cheek (29-30)
After Jesus lays out his ethical commands to love our enemies, he presents some hypothetical examples of how to put his words into action. He says, “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes you cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” These responses to insults and defrauding are the exact opposite of the natural human reactions. Usually, if someone verbally insults us or physically strikes us, our natural reaction is to insult and hit them back. But Jesus demands better from his disciples.
Every time I read these verses I can’t help but think about that epic scene in Victor Hugo’s classic story Les Miserables where the hardened criminal Jean Valjean is aided by an elderly priest who gives him food and shelter. Then in the middle of the night Valjean steals all of the priest’s silver and runs off. When Valjean is apprehended by the authorities and taken back to the priest’s home to verify the charges, the priest tells the authorities that he gave the silver to Valjean as a gift. And then he says to Jean, “But you forgot to take the candlesticks.” The priest’s remarkable mercy and love becomes the turning point in Jean’s live.
Friends, this is what it means to turn the other cheek! When someone insults you, can you return words of kindness? When someone steals from you, can you give them more? When someone treats you unjustly, can you show them mercy?
The Golden Rule (31)
Everything that Jesus has said about loving our enemies is summarized in one simple statement, usually called “the golden rule.” “Do unto other as you would have them do to you” is has become one of Jesus’ most famous sayings. This proverb is the foundational ethical principle of his kingdom because it defines how he wants human beings to act in every situation in life.
This is very different from the rule that most people follow. It is not what we typically see when businessmen are trying to close a deal, or when you get into an argument with your spouse, or when siblings are jockeying for position in the back of the minivan. The usual rule sounds more like, “Do whatever you have to do to get what you want.”
There once was a grandpa who lived with his family. As Grandpa grew older, he began to slobber and spill his food. So the family had him eat alone. When he dropped his bowl and broke it, they scolded him and got him a cheap wooden bowl. Grandpa was so unhappy. Now one day the young grandson was working with wood. “What are you doing?” Mom and Dad asked. “I’m making a wooden bowl,” he said, “for when you two get old and must eat alone.” Mom and Dad then looked sad and realized how they were mistreating Grandpa. So they decided to keep quiet when he spills his food and to let him eat with the family.
Are you doing to others as you would have them do to you?
Amazing Love (32-36)
After establishing the Golden Rule, Jesus goes on to make one final point about loving one’s enemies. He sets up a bunch of comparisons with the average love that is found in the world with the radical love that he calls for in his disciples. He makes the point that it is relatively easy to love someone who loves you; it is easy to do good to those who do good to you; it is easy to lend to someone who would lend to you—even wicked sinners do that. That is average love at best!
But Jesus calls his followers to amazing love—to love people who don’t love us, to be kind to people who have not been kind to us, and to share with people who won’t share with us. This is unexpected love! This is amazing love!
This is the kind of love that Jesus showed his enemies! Jesus loved the Pharisees who falsely accused him! He loved Judas who betrayed him! He loved Peter who denied him! He loved Pontius Pilate who condemned him! He loved the people who spit on him! He loved the crowds who mocked him! He loved the soldiers who scourged him! He even loved the men who pressed the thorns into his skull and pounded the nails through his hands and feet! Even while he was hanging on the cross in agony, he prayed, “Father, forgive them…” Jesus did good to those who hated him; he blessed those who cursed him; he prayed for those who abused him.
This is where we learn to love our enemies: at the cross, where we were the enemies that Jesus died to forgive. It is only by the cross that we are able to be like Christ to our enemies—loving them without demanding anything in return. If we exhibit this kind of amazing love, we will be called sons of the Most High!
Eventually, Earnest Gordon learned how to show this kind of love to his enemies, the Japanese. After the war ended, Gordon and the other POW’s from the River Kwai made their long slow journey back to Britain, traveling through Asia by train. Along the way, they ended up in a rail yard next to a train full of wounded Japanese soldiers. Gordon describes their pitiable condition:
They were in a shocking state; I have never seen men filthier. Their uniforms were encrusted with mud, blood, and excrement. Their wounds, sorely inflamed and full of pus, crawled with maggots…The wounded men looked at us forlornly as they sat with their heads resting against the carriages waiting fatalistically for death. They were the refuse of war; there was nowhere to go and no one to care for them. These were the enemy.
Without a word, Gordon and most of his men unbuckled their packs, took out their canteens and rations, and went over to the Japanese train. They knelt beside the enemy to give them food and water and bind up their wounds. But not everyone was pleased with this remarkable display of compassion. One of the Allied Officers said, “What bloody fools you are! Don’t you realize that they are the enemy?” Of course the officers realized it: that was exactly the point! The dying soldiers were the enemy, but Gordon and his friends were called to love them and do good to them.
They learned to give this king of love from the same place where we can learn to give it: at the cross of Jesus Christ. The Savior who died for us calls us to give his love to others, including the people who hate us. Who are the enemies God is calling you to love? Do good to them. Bless them and pray for them! Show them the love of God in Christ. (Ryken 278)