My Favorite Verses - Vol V (Feb 17 to Jun 17)

Matthew 5:44-48 … To LOVE the enemy
(05/26/2017)
“And I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …
For if you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? … Be perfect,
therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”~ Jesus (Matthew 5:44-48)
First & foremost, it is absolutely critical for those desiring to truly understand
this all-important passage that “Love” for Jesus was not an amenable thought or a
warm emotion or even friendly words. No, Jesus Christ was incredibly consistent
throughout his entire Gospel ministry – and one of the things he was most
consistent about was professing the Truth that real LOVE – the perfect LOVE of
his heavenly Father (Matthew 5:48) – is a verb …He makes LOVE a verb when he
defines “neighbor” as the enemy (i.e. the Samaritan) who actively showed “mercy”
to the Jew lying in the gutter in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37)
… He makes LOVE a verb when he replaces the ten “do not” Commandments of
the Old Testament with his two-in-one “Do Love” Commandment (see Matthew
22:37-40) … He makes LOVE a verb in his “Parable of Parables” (the Parable of the
Sower – see Matthew 13:18-23), where he notes that “But as for what was sown on
good soil, this is the one who not only hears the word and understands it, but who
indeed bears fruit and yields” … And he makes LOVE a verb when he states quite
succinctly that the only ones who will ever be truly Blessed are those who do not
only comprehend the perfectly selfless LOVE he was preaching, but those who put
that LOVE into practice (see Matthew 7:21-24, Matthew 16:28 & John 13:15-17 et al)
– especially by actively Caring for the downtrodden in their communities (Matthew
25:35-40), and especially – as the passage above quite clearly attests – by actively
Caring for their enemies as well … Secondly, please note that the phrase “pray for
those who persecute you” means that we are to A) openly & unconditionally
forgive them (not that we are to arrogantly “pray for their salvation”), and B) cherish
the empowerment that they have provided us – by activating the same; by
choosing to Love them anyway (see Matthew 5:10-11) … Indeed, LOVE must be
difficult to give to become potent once given, and
this is why “perfect LOVE” – the LOVE that would
willingly give our lives for our greatest enemy – is
the most potent LOVE of all; a LOVE that awakens
that enemy and transforms him or her into an ally; a
LOVE that re-unifies the Soul of the Giver with
“the Father” within (John 14:20); a LOVE that
awakens all who witness it being given; a LOVE
that grants both the Lover & the Beloved an
instantaneous entrance into the “Kingdom of
Heaven” (see Matthew 7:13-14, Matthew 18:3-4, Mark
8:35, Luke 23:43, John 10:10 et al).
138