When Jesus instructs us to love our neighbor, he makes it clear that he means loving people whether we like them or not.
Loving not only the people we like, but also our enemies, sets followers of Jesus apart.
“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?” That’s the challenge Jesus gives us in Matthew 5:46-47.
I’m certainly not saying this is easy to do, yet Jesus calls us to it. Why?
Well, for one, learning to love even our enemies allows us to act as “children of [our] 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” (Matthew 5:45). It also stretches and strengthens our ability to hope as we pray that even that person who seems so far from God would have a conversion of heart and cooperate with grace.
Loving others without an expectation of love returned, in the face of retaliation, when it makes us look weak even though it takes every ounce of strength we possess—this is a different sort of love than the world is used to. This sort of love insists on the dignity of every person as created and loved by God and therefore worthy of our love, no matter what.
What do you do when it’s difficult to love your neighbor?
My colleague André Lesperance has some advice about how to whet your appetite for loving your neighbor (and other difficult spiritual practices) as we enter these first few weeks of Lent.
And as you head into this next week, think and pray about how you can be a sign of the Father’s love in a world riddled with division, hatred, and disgust. Who can you love with God’s heart this week (even if you don’t like them all that much)?
