As disciples of Christ, we must choose love, justice, liberation, mercy and inclusion, and celebrate the gift of diversity. The Christian ethical action is always one of courage, liberation and love, not fear, oppression or hatred. As disciples of Christ, we seek to do God’s will. Our God is a God of freedom, love and mercy; our actions must reflect God’s character.
Even in the face of persecution or the threat of physical harm… yes, even in the face of death… when we face enemies, like Jesus, we must choose to combat violence, oppression, and injustice with hope, justice and love. Christ prayed for and loved his enemies. As Christ’s disciples, we are to do the same. In praying for our enemies, we’re transformed and given Christ’s love. In this act, we also find grace. Bonhoeffer writes:
The love for our enemies takes us along the way of the cross into the community with the crucified. The more we are driven along this road, the more certain is the victory of love over the enemy’s hatred. For then it is not the disciple’s own love, but the love of Jesus Christ alone, who for the sake of his enemies went to the cross and prayed for them as he hung there. In the face of the cross the disciples realized that they too were his enemies, and that he had overcome them by his love. It is this that opens the disciples’ eyes, and enables them to see their enemy as a brother or sister.[1]
When we pray for our enemies, we can no longer think of them as a faceless “them.” Instead, as Bonhoeffer notes, they are “transformed into the face of one for whom Christ died.”[2] They are our brothers and sisters. They are us.
Read Matthew 5:43-48, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally!
Annie
Today’s Reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:43-48
Joy Lutheran Church Ocala, Florida 