Introduction

As we continue our reflections on the Sermon on the Mount, we must say again that the message of Christ is both humbling and challenging. He exposes our sins and our failures. He calls us to a very high and noble Christian walk. From the inside out, the blessed man, the Christian, is to make life tasty, bearable and enjoyable for others. He is to do this by radiating good works that God’s law defines for practical application in the spirit of true righteousness. Again, the true spirit of the law stands in marked contrast to the current Pharisaic use of the OT. The conflict of the deeply entrenched rabbinic tradition with the true intent of Scripture is nowhere as great as is the case in our theme for today: "Striving for Perfect Love." To develop this theme, we will consider the scope, nature, and goal of Christian love (for the time between).

1A. The Scope of Love

In a word, the scope of love is universal. It is all embracive as opposed to a constricted Pharisaical love (vs. 43-44a). The contrast is clear-cut between the educated elite and the uneducated son of a carpenter. One says, "Hate your enemy." The other says, "Love your enemy."

Sometimes it is hard to believe that the Jewish leadership of NT times could be guilty of such blatant religious sins. However, these sins are all too real. The leadership rationalized, evaded and soothed the religious conscience by blunting the razor’s edge of biblical truth. In principle, Phariseeism operates on the principle of reduction. It involves limiting the scope of the Law’s applicability to excuse sin while bringing biblical duties within easy reach. The Pharisees actually taught that being religious required them to hate their enemies. This is astounding. Can it really be true? How could they do this in the name of the Lord of the old covenant?

We get some insight into the Pharisaic outlook from a remark that led to the story of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10.29, But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"). The context is man’s basic duty to love God and His neighbor (v. 25-28). The interchange began with the question about inheriting eternal life, which Jesus turned back to the enquirer, "how do you read what is written in the Law?" (v. 26). The lawyer’s answer combined Deuteronomy 6.5 (on loving God) and Leviticus 19.18 (on loving your neighbor). Jesus told the man that his answer was correct (v. 28). In doing this, namely, loving God and your neighbor, there is eternal benefit, "you will live." If you live the law of love (or the laws of love) now, you will live forever with God in the glory yet to come. We might wish to avoid this kind of compliment. We know how self-righteous people can be. We would rather not hear them pound their chests in some kind of egoistic display. However, Jesus told the man that his answer was correct and that he is to act on it: "Do this and live." When Jesus replied in this way, the man’s guilty conscience smarted. Whatever potential misunderstanding might occur, Jesus pinpointed responsible conduct. Therefore, the lawyer offered a self-justification. He felt that he had to defend himself. He did so by means of a loaded question, "Who is my neighbor?" (v. 29). This question implies a reduction in the scope of love that goes with a narrow definition of the neighbor. To illustrate this narrowness let us use the picture of a pie with many slices. The pie represents the human race, or more personally put, it represents people on earth that surround us (the people that exist in my world). As you may already know in the standing tradition, the slices represent different categories of the human family along side of the category of the neighbor. These categories were the harlot, Gentile, Samaritan, enemy and the most important slice, the neighbor.

How was the pious Jew supposed to treat these classes of people? He was to belittle the harlot, call the Gentile a dog, publicly curse the Samaritan (when you need to hear an "amen" in the synagogue, stand up and curse someone saying, "Samaritans eat swine’s flesh."). Remarkably, he was to hate the enemy (yes, hate as a religious or pious duty to God).

In contrast, Jesus says directly, "But I say… love your enemies." The straightforwardness of the Lord Jesus no doubt shocked the leadership. Horrified, they must have blocked their ears while they opened their mouths with charges of blasphemy that comes from this unlearned "would be" or "wants to be" theologian. The religious world is exactly upside down; black is white and white is black.

The teaching of Jesus is unmistakably plain. True righteousness includes love that is all embracing, that excludes no one. It extends itself toward all alike, friend or foe. There is nothing ambiguous here. We have the clearly defined duty to love our enemies. If the command to love includes the enemy then a fortiori it includes all categories of people less difficult to love. Thus, the scope of Christian love must be universal. Not even the enemy can left out and not even one of them because Jesus says, "love your enemies." We cannot limit the definition of neighbor to the one near by. It refers to those near by and far away. It refers to friend and foe, the just and unjust, the thankful and unthankful (Lk. 6.35), and to those inside or outside the church.

2A. The Nature of Love

As we needed to define who the neighbor is, we also need to define what love is. The tension between the notions of love and the enemy require some concise explanation. Obviously, the idea of affection is insufficient as a definition of love. It is impossible to have warm loving affections that overflow toward those who curse, use, and abuse us. Love must be something more basic than affection though surely the affections are carried along in train with love.

To love others is to promote their good (cf. Gal. 6.10, "Do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."). It is not only all embracing but it is also tenderly active. It involves studying the highest welfare of people, even our enemies, and determining to act and react to them in ways that promote their welfare. It is such a mistake to think of love as something that you can "fall out of." People speak of falling in love and then when the glow is gone, they fall out of love. That is just smoke and mirrors; it is unclear and deluded thinking. Love is a matter of obedience to God in relation to your spouse, neighbor, and enemy. You do not fall out of love. Instead, you fall into disobedience, into covenant breaking, and into unfaithfulness.

There is a negative and a positive way of seeing the nature of love.

1B. Negatively

For a negative insight we can look back to the preceding paragraph where the parallel to the enemy is the evil person, the one we are not to resist (Mat. 5.39). Our love as Christians means that we will reject every form of retaliation. That does not mean that we become public doormats. Jesus is not telling us to let people go on and on doing one injustice toward us after another. He is not telling us to forego self-defense or to encourage more injustice (like an extra miles’ worth). What He is commanding is do all we can to avoid retaliation in thought, word, or deed. Christian, if you want to honor Christ and fulfill your vow of obedience to Him, you must reject every impulse of vengeance.

We can picture the response that is required by considering the example of Tom, the blacksmith, in the story of Roots. Things are drastically reversed when the man who beat Tom many times is now tied to a tree and Tom has the whip in his hand. What will he do? Picture yourself there and the person tied to the tree is "so and so" (you fill in the blank). What will you do with the whip in your hand? What will you and Tom do if you take "sweet vengeance"? What will you do if you apply this teaching of Jesus to love your enemies? We may want to say that love does not apply in this situation since the person on the tree deserves severity on top of severity.

In the story, Tom threw the whip to the ground. If he used the whip, we as participant observers would most likely find a measure of satisfaction in the suffering of the evil person. After all, the man on the tree deserves severe punishment. However, the satisfaction is short-lived when we add injustice on top of injustice. Throwing the whip to the ground is heroic, noble, merciful, lawful, and most of all loving. Love does apply in cases like this. Jesus tells us that in relation to all people in your world and the hurts that they inflict on you, throw the retaliating whip away.

2B. Positively

For positive insight, we can look closer within the text of Matthew 5.43-48.

1) First, pray for those who act as enemies toward you (v. 44).

We should notice how love and prayer interrelate. Pray for those who add insult to injury; that is, who add insults to your injuries (your enemies persecute you). To pray for them is to pray for their good. It has to be the very best kind of good that you are seeking for them because prayer to your Father in heaven seeks it. You ask for God’s intervention in their lives, for His blessing on them. Praying for them loves them and it cultivates the fullness of love toward them that includes our attitudes and desires. Love grows by practice. Praying for your enemies is an important practice.

2) Second, greet those who act as enemies toward you (vs. 46-47)

Loving those who love you (v. 46) is parallel with greeting those who greet you (v. 47). You are not to just love those who love you nor are you to greet only those who greet you. You are to love and greet the enemy; you love by greeting. Interestingly, the enemy is not the enemy at war. The picture is not that of a battlefield where everyone is shooting and where you walk out in the middle of it all to shake hands and say, "have a nice day." The enemy is the one who opposes you, does some injustice against you, or and hurts you in some way in the daily course of life. I have known people who would not speak to me even when I greeted them. Enmity often shows up in unwillingness to speak to someone. Here our Lord is saying, "Do not be the one who will not speak even to those who act as enemies toward you in one way or another." Instead, He tells us to extend common courtesies. Remember the fact that love is not rude (1 Cor. 13). What is sometimes belittled as ceremonial language (how are you? And hello, etc) is actually very important as a Christian virtue. It is salt that seasons and makes things tasty. It is a good kind of background music. Greeting involves extending the sense of welcome. It is closely associated with showing hospitality. Although someone despises you and you know it, nonetheless, when occasions arise, extend a welcome and try to make that person feel at home in your presence.

3A. The Goal of Christian Love (v. 45)

The goal is that you may be sons and daughters of your Father in heaven. Having this kind of love does not make you a son or a daughter but it manifests these things. The idea is that you reflect likeness to your Father. He sends the rain and sunshine on both the just and the unjust alike. His love is universal. Such is His common love or common grace. It is love that He extends to all people commonly regardless of their status in life. This is our goal because of our kinship to God. We are His sons and daughters because of Christ as we learn from the entire gospel story in the book of Matthew and in all the Gospels. This is a high goal. It can be no lower and there can be no higher goal than that of manifesting childship to God. This is the chief and ultimate goal of life. It is the chief end of man and of all things: to glorify the Father who is in heaven (cf. Mat. 5.16).

Conclusion

Jesus draws a very potent conclusion from these considerations. He concludes with the personalized imperative, "You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (v. 48). This is a lofty standard of nothing less than perfection. If speaking of perfection is not enough to challenge us, the perfection is nothing less than God’s perfection. Furthermore, Jesus points us emphatically to the perfection of our Father in heaven. Perfection and childship go together. They must go together or we have nothing but Phariseeism, legalism, and hypocrisy. Some things help us understand this lofty imperative to be perfect.

1) It is perfection in our love.

Perfection in Christian love is the kind that follows our heavenly Father’s example of love to just and unjust alike showering them with good gifts.

2) It is challenging.

Now the challenge starts. When you know that it is your duty to love friend for foe with an accent on loving the foe, you may feel some emotional tension. Love is a term of warmth; it is a friendly term and it conveys a likeable idea. In fact, love is the highest virtue on earth. Enemy is a term of dread; it is an unfriendly term and it conveys an unwelcome idea. Being an enemy is the highest vice on earth. Therefore, it is remarkable that Jesus combines these two words and ideas in the same injunction: "love your enemies." This combination reveals the perfection of love toward which we are to strive.

The scope of love is such that it does not follow the path of least resistance like water. Love is such that although you may find out that you have enemies out there, as a follower of Christ, you cannot be an enemy to anyone. You are to love Christian, non-Christian, just, unjust, black, white, Jew, Gentile, Calvinist, Arminian, thankful, unthankful, and that person that is an enemy toward you presently.

3) It is very personal.

You are to love all your enemies. That is what Jesus commands. He speaks to the world of people that surround each of us. You have people who oppose you and do you wrong, sometimes for no understandable reason whatever. Do not try to exclude them; love them. Do not think, speak, or act in a retaliatory manner toward them. Pray for them and greet them kindly. Seek their good.

4) It takes effort.

What Jesus is calling for is a striving after perfection in our love. We do not weaken the standard of love because of our finitude or because of our sin. In any sport or skill development, you have to keep the goal always before you. To lower the bar or weaken the standard leads to lower effort and lower effort leads to lower progress. The Father in heaven, our Savior at His right hand, and the Spirit at work within us deserve our very best effort.

5) It has an ultimate goal.

Striving after perfection in love for our enemies is a matter of loving God as our Father and seeking His honor in everything. We want to be like our Father and in that way manifest His glory. We must keep the words and concepts of "love" and "enemy" together in order to resemble, honor, and glorify the triune God.