Hate Your Enemy?

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that 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, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. 

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

Hate is a strong emotion and poisons our souls.  It is the Devil’s fertilizer and fosters violence through words and action.   Jesus was right to try to shift us from hate to love, as futile as that may seem to be.  

Yes, the sun rises on the bad and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust. But that really has nothing to do with God.  It has everything to do with us and our recognizing that we all have faults that at times make us just as bad and unjust as those we judge to be bad and unjust.  

We should pray for those who persecute us, but at the same time, we must try to understand the reason for that persecution.  With that understanding, hate can be replaced with tolerance and with some effort, respect, and dare we say, love.

Deacon David Pierce