Be Counter Cultural: Love Your Enemies!
WED Evening Prayer Reflection 042821 (Luke 6:27-38) ON LOVING OUR ENEMIES Jesus told us: “ Love your enemies ”. Can anything be as counter cultural as this? When we are hurting, our entire being would like to scream against this thinking: is it even possible to love our enemies? Especially when the enemy keeps oppressing and hurting us? Let us try to imagine what must have been going on in the minds of Jesus’ listeners. Did they rebel in their hearts against it? I suppose so. Whatever strong resistance they might have had, I am thinking we have it too! Of course, in our minds, the worse the offense, the harder it is, to imagine loving the enemy. Jesus provides us with a reasoning for his theory: “ If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you, even sinners love those who love them .” Nothing is special about that if sinners can also do that. In other words, this is not counter cultural. But this is rather the way you should walk in: “ Love your enemies, d...