No Love

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 and sisters 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)

It's very difficult to hear Jesus’s voice when he says to love our enemies.  I have ears that don’t listen.  I can understand praying for those who persecute me because that doesn’t mean I love them.  

However, if love means simply wanting the good for the other person, then perhaps that might be sensible because it could lead to my enemy having a change of heart and not considering me their enemy.  It’s de-escalation of anger and hate.  The definition of “love” is an important consideration.  To love is to will the good of another (Catechism 1766).  If we wish ill for our enemies, then their hearts will harden towards us even more.

Consider what is still happening in Gaza.  Conditions continue to worsen as Israel pounds/destroys infrastructure and wounds/kills many innocent Palestinian people – young and old.  We can be guaranteed hating enemies is foremost in the minds of many Jews and most Palestinians. 

As Jesus said: “The sun rises on the bad and the good and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” Sure, fine, but as it stands now, the sun is setting on both in Israel and Gaza, and darkness is assured.  There is no love and never will be since the stage is set for ever-lasting anger and hate with revenge and retribution being paramount for both sides of this obscene war.

Deacon David Pierce