Dr. Hugh Hamilton
Trinity Presbyterian Church – Pensacola, FL 
February 24, 2019   7th Sunday of Epiphany, Cycle C 

HOW MAY WE LOVE OUR ENEMIES? 
Luke 6: 27-36

British woman Sarah Graham Moon sought revenge when her husband had multiple extra-marital affairs, the last with a young girl just down the road.  Her exploits at revenge made the gossip columns of the British tabloids, making her famous. She struck first by pouring cans of white paint on his cherished BMW parked outside his girlfriend’s house and pinned his boxer shorts to the antenna.  A week later she cut six inches off the left sleeve on each of his custom-tailored $1600 Saville Row suits. The following week she took sixty bottles of his expensive vintage wine and deposited them on neighbor’s doorsteps in the middle of the night. Her fame gained her appearances on American TV talk shows and she was invited to the premier of the movie The First Wives’ Club. Ladies began calling in to report their stories of sweet revenge!  One woman cleaned the toilet with her husband’s toothbrush and placed it back in the toothbrush rack – enjoying her secret!  Sarah Graham Moon said of herself, “Perhaps I'm shallow, but being seen happy is the greatest revenge.”  

We know the urge to seek revenge.  We know the urge to settle the score with someone who deserves it. Ever had someone steal your best idea, present it as his/her own, and take credit for the idea?  When a driver cuts you off in traffic and then has the nerve to slow down, do you do a slow burn and tailgate their bumper?   When someone gossips about you with a lie, how do you react?   

Getting even is the world’s way of doing things – but getting even never brings lasting satisfaction. Jesus commands us to follow another path.  Love your enemy…turn the other cheek.  Is Jesus saying, let people use you and bully you and treat you bad; allow people to hit you and don’t resist?  NO, that is not what Jesus is commanding – nor is his command impossible to obey, though it seems like it. It’s not easy…but it’s not impossible. 

Jesus expects us, his followers, to model his behavior – to extend love and grace to all persons, regardless of merit, whether or not they deserve it. As followers of Jesus we are to love as God loves, to extend love even to our enemies: to those who do us wrong, those who curse us, those who do damage. 

Jesus models agape, a love so deep and forgiving that it breaks through normal barriers and enables us to be radically generous and gracious.  We may not WANT to love like…but we can …because Jesus makes us ABLE.  In time and after good results, we begin to WANT to love like that and we love even when our enemy doesn’t love us back; even when it’s hard.  

Rather than resent and retaliate...we rise above the urge… and seek what is best for everyone.  To love your enemy does not require that you have warm affection for them. The Greek word for love used in verse 27 is agapan, which describes an active benevolence toward someone, desiring only what is best for him/her despite whatever he/she has done to you.  You deliberately choose to be good and kind to him/her.  That seems wrong, unnatural, even impossible…but with Jesus helping us we can choose to do what is best for everyone involved, choose to seek the highest good, not the lowest revenge. 

To turn the other cheek is not passive weakness; it is strength. Your restraint tells your detractor, your critic, your bully, “I will not seek revenge because I am stronger than that. I will not insult you or shame you or hurt you, because my self-worth is not found in whether I can hit you back and hurt you. My dignity is found in Christ and I will respond the way He would respond.”
(Provocative Bible Verses, 1)

How may you love your enemies, especially when you are still mad or upset or pained by their actions? 
•	You must ask God’s help because you can’t do it by yourself. Ask God to show you the way and help you to take some steps in that direction.
•	Ask yourself, “Who is my enemy?”  
•	Then dare to pray for them, for him, for her.  It’s hard to hate someone for who you pray.  
•	Ask yourself WHY you are enemies: threat, jealousy, abuse, insecurity, violence, cultural differences, political differences, crime?  What makes you resent them, or them resent you? 
•	Consider what steps you can take to bridge the gap: what is realistic, what is doable, what is within your time and resource limits? 
•	Commit to do what you can do. 
	I will try to show you respect even though I don’t like your views. 
	I will override my desire to get even.  
	I will ask Jesus to deliver me from the revenge in my heart.  
	I will obey Jesus and stop seeking retaliation.
	I will debate your views, but not belittle you. 
	I will defeat the cruelty of this world by doing good and thereby go beyond retaliation. 

None of us will succeed at this always.  We all fall short.  But Jesus rewards our efforts and when we take some steps, we are on our way to becoming more like Jesus, taking on the heart of God. 

You do good by going beyond the requirement.   In verse 29 Jesus says offer your tunic also when someone has asked for your coat. Jesus is referencing the court system in their day and what could and could not be taken from you to settle a case after the verdict has been pronounced.  
•	The shirt or tunic was an inner garment and a person would have three or four tunics.  
•	The coat was an outer garment like a robe that served as both coat by day and blanket by night.  
A person usually had only one coat, hence it was very valuable, so valued and essential that the courts could not seize your coat for payment.  If someone wants the shirt off your back, Jesus says, give him your best coat too.  Be willing to give more than is necessary to settle problems.  
    It’s more important to lose your coat than to lose your friend, 
           Lose the argument if it’ll help save the relationship.  

In verse 35, Jesus says Go beyond the request.  “Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High God.”  Don’t aim just to be as good as your neighbor. What special grace is in that?  What sets you apart as a follower of Jesus is when you do better than the norm, when you treat people better than they deserve. When you do what Jesus would do, you witness God’s greater love and you make life better for others. 

Loving your enemy is hard, but it’s not impossible if you’re letting Jesus work in you.  If you will love the person who’s irritating you with agapan love, willing the best no matter what, you stand out, you personify what God’s grace does in a person, you personify what Jesus commands, and you help others follow Jesus too. 

Realistically, when that other person really is your enemy, and he/she/they have no intention of doing right by you, you may do best by establishing barriers and boundaries to protect each of you.  As nations must establish treaties to manage tensions and resentments and effects of conflict, or divorce settlements have agreements, sometimes we must agree to not to provoke one another and to set boundaries on how we relate to one another.  If your enemy insults you or dislikes you, respond as Jesus would. Don't let your emotions control you. Instead, see the other person as wounded, too; someone with a problem who needs God's help and your prayers.  It’s hard to hate someone for whom you’re praying.

Determine what part you played in the problem.  Recall Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:5: You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.   There are always three or more sides to every story, don’t assume everything you first hear is accurate and the only cause.  Your slant on the story is just part of the story.  Seek to discover the rest of the story.    

See problems as opportunities to grow in Christ.  The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:3-4, …we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope.     2 Corinthians 12:10 says, that is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Love and forgive . . . even if your enemy does not reciprocate your efforts at peace. Follow Jesus' example: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).

How do you respond when people annoy you or hurt you? 	Pastor Stan Ott says, 
“If you speak to everyone but the ones creating the situation, that’s grumbling. 
   “If you speak to each other in a spirit of hostility and disrespect making point and counter 	point, that’s bickering. 
      “If you speak graciously directly to those involved, that’s the grace of God in you and a 	word of grace through you.” (Ott, July 13, 2012) 

Loving our enemies is hard, but God notices when we try, and he rewards us.  
  When you settle differences quickly for the sake of Christ, 
      when you sacrifice your pride or your privilege for the sake of helping others, 
          when you choose to lose the fight rather than lose the person.
             God notices and God rewards your faithfulness. 

Why should we try to obey this hard command of Christ?
   Because it makes us more like Christ – for we act the way he does. 
     God loves both the saint and the sinner – and God calls us to do the same, to imitate his love,       
       and if we seek our enemy’s highest good, we will truly be the children of God.

We are not any better than those we hate if we continue to be hateful toward them, but if we love and forgive others as God loves and forgives us in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8), we bless those we consider our enemies, 
      we leave an opening toward peace, and 
         we take joy in pleasing God. 

Loving our enemies and turning the other cheek is hard, but it is not impossible.  And when we do respond with gentle dignity, we bring glory to Christ.

Pray this week for your enemy, pray for this week’s enemy:
   choose the person or people you have the most trouble liking and 
      pray for them one minute a day, every day, for 30 days! 
        And ask God to help you to love, to forgive, and to reconcile with your enemy.   
           Don’t be surprised when you see improvements in your relationships!

To God be the glory.   Amen.

Sources

Barclay, William, Daily Study Bible Series: Luke. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977. 
Blackaby, Tom. The Commands of Christ. Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2012  
Britton, Doug. Let Jesus Transform Your Heart. © 2005.  
	http://dougbrittonbooks.com/onlinebiblestudies-irritationandangermanagement/loveyourenemy-	lovingallyourenemies.php
Bible Study: Turning the Other Cheek.  http://www.helium.com/items/1211106-turning-the-ither-cheek
Dannals, Robert S.  “Unlimited Love.”  In A Preacher’s Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series. Jessica Miller Kelly, 	ed.  Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press. 2016, 188.
“What Happened Next?”  (Sarah Graham Moon.)  Lucy Siegle. The Guardian, December 22, 2002. 	https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/dec/22/ethicalliving
Hamilton, Hugh.  Commands of Christ: Love Your Enemies, Turn the Other Cheek.”  Trinity Presbyterian Church – 	Pensaocla, FL.  August 5, 2012  
Ott, Stanley. “Building One Another.”  July 13, 2012. Vol 11, No.1 Word of Grace. Pittsburgh, PA: Vital Churches Institute. 
Provocative Bible Verses: Turn the Other Cheek.  	http://provocativechristian.wordpress.com/2009/01/23provocative-bible-verses-turn-the-other -cheek/
Rice, Cheryl. “Dealing With Animosities God’s Way.”  Advice. January 28, 2011. http://socyberty.com/advice/love-	your-enemy-bless-those-who-curse-you.

Soherman, Miguel Marie. Possible to Love Enemies. 02/18/2007, PCPA Hanceville, AL. www.ewtn.com

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