“But I tell you, love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of
your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:44.
I can recall working through the Sermon on the Mount with a
group of young people when this particular verse came into view. They were
stunned to silence (a rare and precious occasion indeed) when having explored
what it was that Jesus meant, I asked them to name one or two of their enemies.
We too may be hard-pressed and reluctant to label anyone in our life with such
severe terminology. Jesus’ Jewish audience lived under roman dictators, and the
disciples were soon to face rampant persecution, but we do not live in such
circumstances, so how may this verse be relevant to us?
Who is my enemy? One dictionary defines it as “a person who
is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something”. The concept broadens
by considering the synonyms: rival, nemesis, challenger, opposer. I may not
experience oppression or persecution, but I certainly have a few rivals (usually
of my own making). I encounter people whose values are very different to mine
and I know what it feels like to be challenged unfairly. From time to time, my
work and my ideas are opposed by others too. My life is a mix of positive and
negative interactions with others, with the latter leaving me feeling
misunderstood, hurt and resentful. Alas, it seems I have more enemies than I
first imagined to be so.
When we read Jesus’ command to “pray for those that persecute
us”, it would seem that we are simply to pray for them to repent. Yet as we explore
the original text further, the term opens up. The New King James version
reflects this when it says we should “bless those who curse you, do good to
those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you”. Jesus wants
more than I am often prepared to give; to both pray a blessing and be a blessing
to those who we find most difficult. I am to pray that they are blessed in
every sense and in every area of life. Bonhoeffer
called this the supreme command as
“through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead
for him to God”. It seems Jesus’ words reach much further than we first
thought.
I have found that this kind of prayer is utterly transformative.
Following a challenge at college, I decided to keep a (hit) list of people for
whom I would pray for every day in this manner. My experience has been that people do not stay on my
list for very long. While I may not have had much love for them at the start, as
I pray for them my heart begins to change and I begin to love them too.
Perhaps this is a part of what Jesus meant when he speaks of
us becoming children of heaven; that we see as He sees and love as He loves. To
obey this command is to align ourselves to and participate in with the will and
work of God. When we forgive those who have hurt, opposed or misunderstood us our
lives embody the gospel. They tell the world something of the loving God who
died for his enemies, even you and I. May God help us to pray and may our
prayers transform our hearts into love and when we love, may we remember that “we
love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
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