Loving My Political Enemy - Part 1

Maybe the most controversial and universally ignored statement of Jesus’ entire ministry is when he says, love your enemies and pray for those who hate you. It seems the universal response to Jesus’ command is “No. No thank you.” We do not at all seem interested in this, and we who call ourselves Christian often relegate this command to either a suggestion or a description of being an idealistic superhuman. It is neither of these things. Loving our enemies is not a suggestion. It is, however, a description – not of a superhuman, but of something you and I can learn to do in real life if we are interested in taking Jesus seriously.

I get that we are skeptical of Jesus’ admonition to love our enemies and pray for those that hate us. In part this skepticism comes from a shallow understanding of love simply as warm and affectionate feelings. And being commanded to feel warm feelings and think happy thoughts about those who hate us rightfully seems ridiculous. Try to remember that when Jesus talks about love, he is not appealing to your emotions or sentiments: He is talking about the lens through which you view people, and the actions you take towards them. He is talking practically.

So let’s think practically. Political and ideological division are at the front of our minds these days, and I understand why. For the record, when you hear people say, “Politics should never get in the way of our relationship,” I disagree.