In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus exhorted us: “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
Our perceived enemy always carries the dark side of our own self, the things we do not like about our self. We will never face our own dark side until we embrace those who threaten us. The people who turn us off usually do so because they carry our own faults in a different form.
Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what’s so great about that?” (Matthew 5:46). Until we can enter into love with “those we cannot love,” Jesus is saying, we really have not loved at all.
What was Jesus’ motivation for doing this? It is to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Meaning, be all-inclusive as your heavenly Father is all-inclusive and all merciful. This is the heart of the Gospel.
Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”
