Commentary on the Gospel of
Matthew 5:43-48 Love beyond frontiers!
- Love your enemies
- Pray for those who persecute you
- Be perfect as your heavenly Father
In Matthew chapter 5, our Lord instructs us, giving some ‘tips’ that make life worth living, beginning with the beatitudes. Today, the chapter concludes with an exceptional tip, namely ‘love of one’s enemies.’ I do not know of any other religious leader who exhorts the followers to love their enemies! What does one derive from loving one’s enemies?
Edification: one edifies the enemy through forgiveness. The enemy, unbelievably, gets edified by the unconditional love expressed by the one whom he/she considered an enemy. Often times, this attitude of letting go and caring for the enemy speaks to him/her more loudly than all other forms of preaching. Many a time when this happens, the enemy gets deeply touched (though may not instantly express it) and has a rethink which could lead to ‘a homecoming cum embrace of salvation’, and consequently initiates an openness towards genuine reconciliation. What a wonderful dynamic process that unfolds from forgiving those who hurt us! Let’s forgive and let go of enmity!!
Our Lord tells us one of the practices that strengthens us as we forgive the enemy – he says, ‘pray for those who persecute you.’ Now, praying for another implies ‘inward preparation’: we create a space to accommodate the enemy in our heart. We look upon the person not as an enemy but as a brother, a sister, a child of God. We mentally change the language of our relationship. We call him/her a brother/sister because we are all children of the same Father, as we pray in the ‘Our Father.’
And so, when our Lord urges us to love our enemies, he actually invites us to pay closer attention to the quality of the relationship that we create and build up with those around us especially those whose ways of living are at variance with ours. O God, help us by your grace to always look upon one another fraternally, through Christ our Lord, amen.
