"Love My enemies?" - Luke 6:27-38 - February 18, 2001

Recently my wife and I flew to Florida to visit my family. It was my mother’s 80th birthday and we wanted to celebrate this auspicious occasion with her. It was a pleasant trip and my mother was very pleased that all of her sons could be together for the weekend.

My brothers all live there. For me it meant travel time and the expense of flying two persons to Florida. But, I was perfectly willing to spend the money and I must admit that I enjoyed the warm weather. We even managed to spend a night in a hotel on the ocean. Of course I had no problem in justifying the cost of the trip since I haven’t seen my family in over a year. It was a good break. We ate well and enjoyed the "togetherness."

Making our families a high priority is something most all of us do. And when the need to be together and celebrate special times arises we don’t mind the cost. We will take whatever time and energy it takes to make those moments happen. God wants us to love our families, right?

After reviewing this passage from Luke I was confronted with Jesus’ words to "love our enemies." Who of us would consider going to the trouble of flying to Florida on behalf of some enemy? I don’t believe any of us would. If you had a relative who had alienated himself or herself from your family would you fly to Florida to make amends?

If someone stole your car and ended up in jail would you spend the money to bail them out? If a coworker managed to beat you out of a job by putting you down and telling lies about you would you pay for them to spend a weekend in the Bahamas? Would you send Saddam Hussein a fruit basket for Christmas? Would you be willing to pay for counseling for Timothy McVey?

My guess is that you would be unwilling to do any of these things. We are not accustomed of doing any good to those we consider our enemies. It is not our nature. Its easy to love those who love us. On the other hand it is virtually impossible to love our enemies. So then why does Jesus give us instructions that seem so unrealistic? Why does Jesus tell us to "love our enemies?"

I believe that Jesus was encouraging his followers to break the cycle of violence. Jesus never advocated violence under any circumstances. He was about peace, harmony, and community. His ministry was a life of love in action. His good deeds matched his words. His lifestyle embodied God’s love and grace. His ways may have been radical but he made a difference.

Jesus is challenging us to spend our energy and resources on someone other than our friends and family. He wants us to experience a joy that can never be realized unless we are willing to love an enemy. It seems risky, if not down right crazy. But then, how would we know until we are willing to give it a go?

Jesus wants us to love our enemies in order to break the cycle of violence. As long as people react with vengeance the cycle of violence can never be broken. Martin Luther King once said, "When you live by the rule of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, you end up with a nation of blind and toothless people."

One way to break the cycle of violence is to be what Leonard Sweet describes as a "now" person. (Homiletics, January-March 1995) When an opportunity arises to respond to someone in a positive way he says, don’t wait. Don’t ponder over the potential consequences, just do it.

Last week the Ohio State basketball team was losing to Purdue in the final seconds. Purdue had come back from a 14 point deficit and pulled ahead by one point with only 7 seconds left on the clock. Rather than call a time-out, OSU immediately put the ball in play, ran up the court took a shot and then scored on the rebound. The Purdue players were in shock. OSU was playing with smaller players and it seemed inevitable that Purdue was going to steam roll them in the final few minutes of play. But the OSU coach kept the ball in play and his players responded with the final basket. After the game coach O’Brien said, "I didn’t call a timeout because I didn’t want to give the Boilermakers time to set up their defense."

To be "do it now" people means we keep our opponents off guard. They don’t expect us to react in positive ways. I believe that Jesus is telling his followers to be spontaneous when it comes to doing good. Don’t worry what others will think. Don’t spend days, calculating and analyzing over situations. React immediately.

Secondly, I believe Jesus wants us to expand our horizons as to who we are willing to help. Notice that he says, "if you only do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?" In other words, Its easy to help those we like, or those we know. The real challenge is to do good to people we don’t like, even our enemies.

Sixty Minutes had a beautiful clip on recently about a Vietnam War veteran who was in possession of a diary he had taken off a Vietnamese soldier he had shot. He thought he had killed the Vietnamese soldier. The diary was written in beautiful script and was very poetic, showing a very high standard of morality.

After the war the American veteran pursued information about the soldier and found out that he was still living. The American veteran returned to Vietnam and met the man he thought he had killed. The meeting was beautiful as the two men embraced and the American soldier came to meet the many members of his former enemy's family. Their love for each other was touching.

When the American veteran returned to the States, he still wanted to do something for his former foe who was almost blind from a grenade. So the American spent his money to bring his new friend to the United States to get the top medical help for his eyes. Although tests proved the Vietnamese man's eyes could not be completely healed, it was found that new glasses, glasses he had never had, helped considerably.

To love our enemies is to go beyond our normal limits. To love our enemies is to be "now" people. And finally, to love our enemies means we must be willing to let go. For example, experts tell women not to hold onto their purse when a thief tries to grab it. Let him or her have it. Resisting only causes the thief to act violently.

I believe this is at the very core of Jesus’ teaching about loving our enemies. Attempts to resist only escalate violence. The same is true when we are obsessed with getting even or seeking revenge. We can, however break the cycle of violence by letting go. "Turn the other cheek, give to those who beg, give away your coat, expect nothing in return, be merciful and forgive."

It is impossible to visit my mother without hearing a lecture or sermon at some point. This year my mother was preaching to me about the importance of getting along with my three brothers. She said that it was important to her that we remained close after she was gone. She said this because her own brother and sister did not speak for years. She finally intervened and discovered that her sister has the wrong phone number for her brother. A lame excuse perhaps, but it worked and the two of them finally reconciled.

Sometimes the slightest obstacle can separate people. It may be simply a lack of information. Or it may be stubbornness or prejudice or worse yet, hate. Loving our enemies is the only way to break the cycle of violence. Not only will loving our enemies restore peace it will bring us "great rewards."

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio