Luke 6:35-36 “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Love may be the most celebrated thing in the world. I have never met a person who was against it. Music, books, movies, art–all of them sing the praises of love. Celebrities, politicians, and holy men call for more of it. The Woodstock generation made it the theme of a movement, together with peace. Advertisers and Marketers sloganize it. “Love. It’s What Makes a Subaru, a Subaru.” Here’s a quote on love from a famous person: “Act with a boundless and all-embracing love for the people and, if necessary, even to die for it.” Sounds good, right? That’s Adolph Hitler in a speech in 1922. So you don’t necessarily have to be a nice guy to think that love is grand.

The question is, “What do you mean by love, and whom do you include in it?” That’s where it gets interesting. Jesus does not limit it to those who are easy to love, the kind of people who please you and manage to win your affection. That was where people commonly drew the line in his day. In another place he observes, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” And a lot of people would say, “That sounds about right to me.” Anton LaVey, whom you may recognize for his associations with Satanism, has condemned “Love your enemies” as “the miserable philosophy of the spaniel (the pet dog), who roles over when his master kicks him. When someone strikes you on the cheek, punch him in the mouth.”

This may be natural, but that’s not like our Father. It’s like his enemies, the ones who oppose him, the ones who are allies with hell. Jesus describes love like the Father’s this way, “But love your enemies…” Note that “love your enemies” is more than warm feelings for them. “Do good to them,” Jesus says. Love them in the way you treat them. Maybe you will soften their hearts and change the relationship.

But we don’t love our enemies for the sake of getting something in return. “Lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” Love like our Father’s isn’t looking to get something. It is looking to give something. This isn’t a shrewd trick for getting a better return on your investment. It is looking to be someone different, someone better and more, and that itself is a reward. “Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Our reward does not come from the enemy we love. It comes from the Father who loves us. He can claim us as his own Sons, members of his own family. Suddenly, there is a family resemblance.

But weren’t we the same people who would be happy to see our enemies suffer, and maybe stick it to them ourselves, given the opportunity? What happened? What changed? We discovered our Father’s mercy, or better, he showed it to us. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” He hasn’t treated us as our sins deserved. He didn’t destroy us for rebelling against him. Even before we returned to him in faith, he fed us everyday, and let us experience the beauty of his creation, and gave us another day, and then another day, to seek him. He let the guilt of our rebellion fall on his Son, and then let it kill him as the payment for crimes against him. He sought us, and found us, and made us his own. He showed us mercy.

There are currently at least 5 billion people on the planet living in a state of rebellion, without faith in God. But our Father does more than tolerate their existence. He actively supports it. Maybe today is they day they will repent and believe. Maybe tomorrow is the day they will repent and believe. So even now he feeds them, and clothes them, and extends their lives and delays their judgment, even though they may oppose him in everything that is good and decent. He is kind to his enemies because he loves them. He loves us all.

We were once those enemies, too. Love like your Father does, in the way you treat others.