I don’t know about you, but I think one of the most challenging commands Jesus ever gave is found in today’s gospel in Matthew 5:44, where Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Love your enemies.
I mean, it’s hard enough to love your neighbor. But to love someone whom you know is not ever going to love you back? To love the person who intends to, or has already caused you some kind of physical, emotional, or material harm? How do you do love them?
How do you love the unrepentant, and what do you tell the victims of crimes or injustice? And let’s not even get into a conversation about our self-serving government officials who dare to call themselves public servants yet they steal public funds and flaunt their wealth as if they had done no wrong? Seriously, Jesus, you want us to love them? Really? Why? How?
Sorry po, if suddenly you now feel bitterness or anger. Forgive me. But you know, I have those enemies too, and I don’t like them. But, OK, let’s take a deep breath, call in the Holy Spirit to bless us right now. Sige, let me show you within this short video, some pathway of hope out of this very difficult dilemma.
Ready?
First of all, we should not give up fighting for justice. The Lord expects us to fight the good fight of faith. Doing that does not contradict this command to love our enemies. Whenever we see oppression and injustice, we cannot and should not stand idly by and do nothing. In fact, genuine love requires us to call our enemy’s attentions to the evil that we seem them doing. Most of all, we can be assured that God will be on the correct side of justice; just look at all the Old Testament stories when God defeated the enemies of Israel. God sees evil more clearly than we do; He hates injustice, He despises all the unkindness and greed that your enemies may have inflicted on you. Yet He continues to call sinners back to Himself. After all, He called you, too, right?
Second, Jesus Himself knows what it means to be hated and to be attacked. And when He got a lot of pushbacks, Jesus used harsh words to confront hypocrisy. He rebuked religious leaders. He exposed wrongdoing. Yet, He never stopped desiring the salvation of those who opposed Him. He taught them, warned them, ate with them, invited them to repentance, and grieved over their refusal to repent. Even as He was dying on the Cross, suffering at the hands of unjust men, He prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
From a practical standpoint, what does this really mean to have the Christ-like love for our enemies? For one thing, Jesus is not commanding us to feel warm affection toward those who hurt us. That would be silly. But He wants us to guard our hearts. CS Lewis, in his book entitled “Mere Christianity” said, “We don’t have to like them. But we have to love them.” Yes, we are to hate the evil that they do, but we shouldn’t hate the evildoer. Some specific examples:
- We should avoid seeking revenge and let the forces of justice do their job.
- We should desire that your enemies come to know their faults, repent and ask forgiveness from God so that they can receive God’s blessing of redemption. We must never stop praying that God will transform them. Let’s remember that every saint has a past, and every sinner still has a future in the hands of God.
- Let us not harden our hearts so that if our enemies were to be in desperate need, that we wouldn’t help them if we could.
- In fact, we should not rejoice in their destruction, but rejoice in the victory of God over evil.
- And just like Jesus, we should express sorrow for them if they remain unrepentant.
When you think about it, this is how God deals with us, right? God does not approve of everything we do. Yet He continues to seek our good. In that sense, God’s love for sinners is the model for our love of enemies: not approving of their wrongdoing, but never stopping to desire that they accept God’s offer of repentance and grace.
Third, I know this is easier said than done. But, remember this. If it was easy to love, we wouldn’t need a savior. Would we? So, when Jesus says, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” He is fully aware that — on our own — we can’t do it. That’s why He declares: Apart from me, you can do nothing.
But – and here is the key — we have to first desire to follow Jesus, even in this difficult challenge. Yes, my friends, there lies the secret. Let us not focus on the impossible task of walking on water, of going back to the deep even if we have caught nothing all night, or of loving our enemies. Jesus asked Peter three times. And today as He commands you to do the impossible, He asks each one of us: “Do you love me?” (Do you love me?)
My friends, let us focus on our love for Jesus, so much so that we are willing and ready to take that first step in obeying the impossible commands of Jesus. And that, my friends, is all that Jesus requires. That we will obey out of love for Him. And once we do, then you and I will experience power from on High and we will be able to love as He loves, so that we can proclaim to everyone, “It is no longer I but Christ who lives in me, and who loves through me.”
God bless us all.
16 Jun 2026
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