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| The word for love in this passage is not referring to affectionate love. Rather, it is the compassionate desire to see what is best for another person. This is not the kind of love you can “fall into”—it requires a conscious decision and an extreme amount of extra effort. It is not natural to refrain from retaliation when someone takes advantage of you. Reason doesn’t tell us to compassionately desire the best for the person wronging us. But Jesus does. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” Unconditional loving and refraining from reciprocal violence is all well and good, but Jesus goes one step further in this sermon. He pushes us into the realm of concrete kindness by adding the phrase “…do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return” (verse 35). It is one thing to desire the best for someone else, but to make personal sacrifices to make it happen is another thing entirely. Christ is not asking for this unconditional love to be simply a heartfelt desire. It has to take tangible form in our actions towards others. We are to accept abuse without retaliation as well as give to those in need without seeking gain for ourselves. Christ never says that we are to approve of the wrongful actions done by others; he just says that does not dictate our response. It is not possible to love the conduct of someone who harms you, reviles you or violates you. Yet we must still speak kindly to them, giving them aid in their time of need. We show love and kindness regardless of what is done to us. If someone is violent towards us, we do not respond in kind. Christ calls us to seek to do good to others in return for evil. Verses 35 and 36 state that this model of unconditional love comes from God. God was merciful and kind to those who were not thankful and could not give that love back. Matthew’s gospel speaks of God providing rain both for those who are righteous and those who are unrighteous. This passage’s summary of Christ’s message was not something new and original—it was a message of love already well used by the one triune God. |
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