Luke 6:27-31: a reflection

27“But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. 29To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again. 31“As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them.

Jesus gives one of the hardest and most distinctive commands of his teaching: But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. It is not merely a call to refrain from revenge, but to actively love, do good, bless, and pray for the very people who wrong us. And he sums up the ethic with the golden rule: As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Notice how far this command reaches. It is easy to love those who love us; anyone does that. Jesus calls for something far harder: to love our enemies, the ones who hate, curse, and mistreat us, and not merely to tolerate them but to actively do them good, bless them, pray for them. This is love that does not depend on being loved in return, love extended even to those who wish us harm. It is the very love God shows, who is kind even to the ungrateful and the evil.

That command is beyond our natural power, and yet it is exactly what Jesus asks, and what he himself embodied, praying for his executioners from the cross. To love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless and pray for those who mistreat us, is the distinctive mark of those who follow him. It does not come naturally; it must be sought from God and practiced against our instincts. When someone wrongs you, hates you, mistreats you, hear Jesus' command: love them, do good to them, bless them, pray for them. Ask God for the grace to love even your enemies, as he has loved you.

Lord Jesus, you command what is hardest: to love my enemies, do good to those who hate me, bless those who curse me, and pray for those who mistreat me. This is beyond my natural power, and against all my instincts. But it is your command, and the love you yourself showed, even praying for your executioners. Give me the grace to love even those who wrong me, to do them good, to bless and pray for them rather than repay them. Make me like you, who are kind even to the ungrateful. Teach me to love my enemies.