Love Your Enemies
Pastor Bill Nichols - February 28, 2010Introduction
In 1939 Corrie ten Boom was 47 years old and lived with her widowed 82 year old father and elder sister Betsie in Haarlem, in The Netherlands. Neither sister had ever married. Her father had a little watchmakers shop. It was the year the war came to Holland and with it much evil. Slowly the family began helping Jewish people to escape. They created a hideout in their own home. In early1944 the inevitable happened. Corrie, Betsie, their father (now 87), their brother Willem and his wife, their sister Nollie and her husband, her nephew Peter and many others were arrested. . . they were taken several months later, in September of 1944 by train to Ravensbruck. . .
On arrival at Ravensbruck the women were marched to the processing centre for new arrivals. Here they had to pile all of their belongings in the centre of the room and then strip naked and also add their clothes to the pile. Naked, they then had to walk under bright lights and past the scrutiny of a dozen guards towards the shower room. Using her ingenuity, Corrie managed to take her sister into the shower room before undressing and in this way she managed to hide her bible, a bottle of vitamin pills inside a sweater which her sister would later wear. By this stage Betsie was emaciated and quite ill. The bible became Corries only comfort; daily she would read from it to herself and to the other women. Thus in that evil hell hole, Corries faith blossomed. And all the time she watched as her sister got sicker and then die an agonizing death but never once wavering in her faith.
The daughter of Corrie Ten Boom spoke at one of our Chapel services when I was in college in San Diego. If you have not read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, then you need to get a copy of it and read it.
Love for Enemies
Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV)
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
I. You Have Heard That It Was Said
Once again Jesus challenges the teaching of the Jewish religious elite. They taught the people, based on the rabbinical tradition, that you were to love your neighbor, but also that you were to hate your enemy? Where did this teaching come from? The first part of this tradition is found in Leviticus 19:
Leviticus 19:18 (NIV)
"Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD."
But nowhere in the Old or New Testament does God give a command to hate your enemy. As a matter of fact, in Leviticus 19:34 it says;
"The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God."
Basically the tradition of hating your enemies came about by inference. In the Old Testament, when the Israelites crossed over into Canaan, they were instructed by God to completely wipe out all of their enemies. In many instances, they were told to leave no survivors when they attacked the cities. If God said kill all your enemies, then it was assumed by the religious leaders that God hated these people, and thus they were justified also in hating their enemies.
I know that its pretty hard for us to reconcile Gods attitude toward the peoples of Canaan when today we preach and teach that God is a God of love and forgiveness. And yet, we must not forget that there is judicial aspect of God. The people who resided in Canaan were despicable, ungodly, sinful idol worshippers. Although God loves everyone who is created in His image and likeness, His punishment or judgment upon the people of Canaan was not personal, it was a judicial punishment.
Let me ask you this, was Gods punishment of Jesus on the cross a personal punishment, or was it judicial. It was judicial. Fortunately for us, Jesus took the punishment that you and I deserved to receive and we instead received what? We received forgiveness, reconciliation and righteousness from God.
So the Law of God said to love your neighbor. Jewish tradition said, hate your enemy. Thats all good and well, but what we really need to focus on this morning is what Jesus said, for His words supersede the Old Testament law and tradition.
II. But I Tell You!
Matthew 5:44 (NIV)
Jesus said: But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
I don't know about you, but I have just about had it with these teachings of Jesus. Do not be angry with others, do not lust after women, do not get divorced, do not make oaths you do not intend to keep, do not insist on revenge. All of these things I think I can live up to, (with a lot of patience and prayer), but love my enemies? Pray for those who persecute me? How can I love those who have in some way harmed me or those I love?
Stephen, one of the first seven deacons chosen by the church in Jerusalem was arrested for preaching about Jesus. He was accused of blasphemy and brought before the high priest. As he preached Jesus, the religious leaders were offended and began to stone him. Acts 7:60 records Stephen's final words before he died, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."
Why does God want us to love our enemies? Because we are called to be different than the world. When we love our enemies we are identified as Sons of God. God seeks to bless all people, the evil and the good, the righteous and the unrighteous. When we love only those who love us, we are no different than unbelievers. This was a real kick in the face to the religious leaders of Jesus day. They thought that they were above everyone else, especially tax collectors and Gentiles. He told them, if you only greet/love those who are your brothers, neighbors, friends, then you are no different than those you hate. And then He says: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
I can only hope to find the power to love my enemies through the power of Jesus love and forgiveness. After His enemies had nailed Him to a cross, even as the soldiers cast lots among themselves to divide up His clothing, Jesus said:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."Luke 23:34 (NIV)
Conclusion
I guess for me the only way that I can even conceive loving and forgiving my enemy is to recognize that it is the sin that indwells that person that makes him my enemy. You have heard it said before that God hates the sin but He loves the sinner. When we look at someone who we perceive to be our enemy, whether it is someone we know, or maybe someone like Osama Ben Laden, Adolph Hitler, or some other evil tyrant in the world, if we can try and recognize that this person was made in the image and likeness of God, and even though he is evil, He is still loved by God, then maybe you and I too can begin to work on loving the person while hating the sin.
I began by reading you an excerpt from a story about Corrie Ten Boom. I'd like to finish by reading you a little more.
We skip forward to the year 1947, the war is now over and Corrie has now become an evangelist and was preaching Gods forgiveness.
"It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing centre at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain blanched face.
"He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. 'How grateful I am for your message. Frulein,' he said. 'To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!' His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
"Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? 'Lord Jesus,' I prayed, 'forgive me and help me to forgive him.' I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. 'Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your Forgiveness.'
"As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the worlds healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."