Luke 6: 36 – 38 Love Your Enemy Why????

Luke 6: 36 – 38 Love Your Enemy Why????

“Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."

Jesus goes on to lay out some of the gospel’s most powerful (and I think important) teachings. “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not Judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn. Pardon. Give. The measure you measure with will be measured back to you. This is the “why” of love behind the “what” of love. Why love, why turn the other cheek, do good, give, etc.? Because our Father does so. Cultivate compassion and mercy, avoid judgment and condemnation. Give generously it will be returned to you generously. Mother Teresa had a beautiful prayer called (I think) “Anyway”. In it she urged us to build, give, etc. even though others will breakdown and devalue what we do. Do it anyway she said, because in the end it’s not between us and them but between us and God. I think that is what Jesus is saying here about our efforts to be compassionate, forgiving, generous, etc. It might seem fruitless or even crazy by man’s standards. But not by God’s. By acting in these ways we emulate God. What better role model could we have?