Sermon on the Mount: Dealing With Enemies
43 "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. - Matthew 5
It is plainly known that there are few people who will make it through life without an enemy. Some of those enemies just wish others harm, while others actually plot the harm; both wishers and plotters are enemies. Now that we know we have them, what are we to do with them? In Jesus' final illustrative contrast between the old righteousness and kingdom righteousness he answers this very question.
The old righteousness was simply another application of lex talionis—an eye for an eye. This was the standard treatment of one's enemies, and if you were to be righteous you would do this. Not so for one with the kingdom heart. Jesus says that our response to an enemy should be agape love and prayer. In other words, we should will the good of our enemies and ask God to bring goodness upon them. Once, upon being asked why he was did not deal harshly with the southern combatants, Abraham Lincoln responded, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” This is an illustration of how a kingdom heart would "retaliate." Not with violence, but with good, with mercy, with love.This is, after all, how God responds. He gives sunlight and rain — both good things — to both evil and good people, without respect for who they are. But beyond rain, and sunlight, the apprentice of Jesus will do the same. This kind of love surpasses the old righteousness precisely because it extends itself to those who are not loving. Any Philistine, or gangster, can love those who love them, but only a citizen of the kingdom can love perfectly like the Father of the kingdom.