![]() ![]() Offering prayers to God for people who are actively hurting you, especially for being associated with Christ, requires looking at the world in a completely different way. This kind of love is meant to be expressed in action. This is not described as emotional love, or affection. This is hard enough to grasp today, but at the time the words were first spoken they would have been shocking.Ĭhrist does nothing to take the edge off this command, either. Worse, He equated this with the righteous living needed to enter the kingdom of heaven. The Jewish people understandably viewed Rome as their enemy.Īnd yet, a man thought by many to be the Messiah, the Savior who was supposed to free Israel from her enemies, has just commanded His disciples to love and pray for their enemies. ![]() The Roman tax burden left many people in near poverty. ![]() Roman soldiers enjoyed privileges and took liberties with Jewish citizens under their thumb. Dissent beyond the established limits was savagely punished. That said, Rome ruled over conquered nations absolutely and severely. Israel continued to function as Israel in many ways, and they experienced a form of peace under Roman rule. Rome typically did not destroy those they conquered-rather, they allowed relative freedom with a set of conditions. On one hand, becoming part of the Roman empire brought benefits. That makes it easy to forget how radical the claim was, especially for those who live with daily threats from dire enemies, as did the first-century Israelites. Many modern people have heard this teaching, or variations on it, all our lives. Though few people live this out, in a meaningful way, the idea is deeply ingrained in western culture. Instead of only acting in love towards neighbors, Jesus tells His disciples to love their enemies and even to pray for those who persecute them. It implies something much more difficult and more like God Himself. Jesus again declares that God's intent for the righteousness of His people goes beyond selfishness and legalism. However, it seems that the religious leaders were also teaching that it was permissible-possibly even mandatory-to hate one's enemies (Matthew 5:43). God's Word does, indeed, command us to love our neighbor as our self (Leviticus 19:18). His listeners had grown up under a partly correct teaching. Jesus' long list of reversals in chapter 5 concludes with this one. ![]()
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