Daily Reflection
You have heard it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be [children] of your father in heaven. For he makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, he sends the rain on the just and on the unjust.
—Jesus, Matthew 5:43-45
Perhaps this concept isn’t very complicated or obscure. In fact, it’s a fairly well known sentiment. It is, however, very difficult to enact and live out in a world of constant violence, war, and division.
So the real question is, how does one live up to the ethic of enemy love, and what would that look like?
Jesus here is calling for a truly nondual consciousness in which we accept that what is done to me, is done to you.
Compare this request to love even your enemy with another of his sayings captured in Mark 12:31 to,
Love your neighbor as yourself
Or the famous “golden rule” found in Matthew 7:12
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.
Over the course of his teachings, Jesus is making a clear argument to see yourself as worthy, to see yourself in your neighbor, and then to see yourself even in your enemy—this is the highest ethical calling of Jesus, and this ethic is called love.
What do you think about this analysis? Leave a comment here!
Want to read more about Jesus, Christian ethics, and enemy love? Check out this full length article from an earlier TPP post!