We Have to Put Down our Swords and Open our Hearts

This is a post I wanted to write a while back but forgot to. When I read Luke 6 this morning (and I am glad I did because I almost neglected to) I was reminded of my post. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about going to the juvenile detention center with my father. That got me thinking about Holy Cross’ message about loving others and living with others (I believe the motto is “men and women with others). So that got me thinking about loving my neighbor and then I asked the big question, “Who is my neighbor?” Fortunately someone beat me to the punch about 2000 years ago and asked Jesus the same thing (good Samaritan anyone?), but I still want to write about it. In Luke 6: 27-28 Jesus says “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” That’s a pretty tough command to follow. It is easy for me to love my friends and family, sure I get mad at them sometimes but at the end of the day I love them a lot. It is also fairly easy for me to love those in my community; nothing gives me greater pleasure than to serve whether it is a neighbor down the street or a kid in jail who needs encouragement. But it is often hard for me to love my enemies. When someone mistreats me my first instinct isn’t always to pray, instead it is to get even. As the saying goes “don’t get mad, get even.” And I admit, sometimes I do desire to get even with those who harm me, whether it be verbal, physical, or emotional. But that isn’t right. My dad use to tell me that “hurt people hurt people.” It takes a broken heart in a person for them to cause pain in someone else. Does that mean what they do is ok? No, but it does mean that my enemies may be hurting and instead of hatred need love and understanding. There have been people in the past who have treated me wrongly, taken advantage of me, and left me. Instead of getting back at them I choose to see them as God does, I choose to love them as God does. As Jesus said in verse 36 “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” It may be challenging to quell the desires for revenge, but you have to do it.