gave my first thai sermon this week (in language school); i realized something new as i prepared the sermon on Mt 5:43-48; there is no difference between the commands, “love your neighbor” and “love your enemies.”
1. in Luke 10, the expert of the law answered correctly in stating that to love God and our neighbor summed up God’s commandments; but his response to God’s greatest law was not to obey, but more lawyering, “who is my neighbor?”; to that Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, which answers his question, “anyone, including your enemies.” in other words, acc to this parable, loving your enemies is what it means to love your neighbor!
2. looking at the context, is the sermon on the mount where Jesus changes the OT laws, or where he clarifies them? the religious leaders had dissected God’s principles to suit their own fancy, whether it was to oppress people or to shrink God’s commands to bite-sized “realistic” bits; so, Jesus had to spell it out to these lawyering religious leaders that, for example, “do not kill” also meant do not hate, do not commit adultery also meant do not lust, etc. people always want to know what they can get away with, what they have to do as a minimum requirement– this is not the attitude of love, but of fear; so, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus points out that to love our neighbor also means to love our enemy! even pagans and corrupt tax collectors love people who love them; even dogs….
as long as i thought that loving our neighbors was one thing, and loving our enemies was another, more spiritual, thing, i was performing the same lawyering that pharisees used to do; maybe it’s too painful for proud pastors to realize that they might not be perfect in the eyes of their congregation; but God’s command is for us to love each other as He did (Rom 5:8, “while we were still sinners”), and only when we love our enemies can we show that we have the love of God. now, who wants to ask, “who is my enemy?”
meditating on this passage in Thai gave me an opportunity to reflect on it afresh, kinda like how i used to get blessed by doing hebrew and greek exegeses in seminary; maybe i should review my biblical languages after i’m done with thai school this spring!
