Introduction
Okay, so we are going to really lean into this a bit this week.
This is the passage that every person, no matter what political party they’re a part of, no matter what denomination they are in, no matter what their ideology, likes to put on the back burner.
We will quote this passage, “love your enemies,” when we talk about things theoretically. But then, that very same day, we will turn to social media or our friends and outright condemn others. We will call those “others” evil or demonic. We will label them our enemies and wash our hands of them, believing them to be beyond redemption. They are lost causes. Unworthy, unfit, not Christian enough to be a part of our movement towards ushering in the Kingdom of God.
But in our text, Jesus doesn’t give us an out. He doesn’t say, “Love your enemies when it’s convenient.” He doesn’t say, “Love your enemies as long as they are willing to meet you halfway.” He doesn’t say, “Love your enemies except for those who voted differently than you, except for those who preach bad theology, except for those who you believe are wrecking the world.” No. Jesus simply says, “Love your enemies.” And then he doubles down: Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you.
And just in case we think we can spiritualize this away, Jesus makes it physical: “if someone strikes you, turn the other cheek. If someone takes your coat, give them your shirt, too. If someone begs from you, give without expecting anything back.”
This is not a strategy for self-preservation. This is not about fairness. This is a complete reorientation of how we engage the world.
Setting Up the Jesus and Lukan Context to show How Serious This Is
The World Jesus Lived In
Jesus didn’t speak these words in a peaceful, unified society. He spoke them in a land occupied by Rome, a brutal empire that maintained control through violence, taxation, and fear. The people hearing Jesus were deeply divided.
Roman Oppressors vs. Jewish Resistance – Many in Jesus’ audience longed for revolution. Groups like the Zealots wanted to overthrow Rome, while others, like tax collectors or some religious leaders (or even Herod!), worked within the system to maintain power.
Religious Divisions – Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and others argued over how to be faithful under oppression.
Social Hierarchy – There was a rigid divide between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. Honor and shame dictated every interaction.
When Jesus says, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, he’s speaking to people who have been beaten down by real, tangible oppressors (corrupt tax collectors, abusive Roman soldiers, religious elites who cared more for things being quiet and maintaining the status quo than for the people being harmed). For those in these communities, these are not theoretical enemies. These are the people causing harm to their lives.
And Jesus says, love them anyway. This would have been infuriating to hear. It’s not what they wanted. They wanted justice, vengeance, a Messiah who would take power back for them. Instead, Jesus tells them to respond with mercy. To a world that had never shown them any.
The World Luke Wrote In
Fast forward about 50 years. Luke is writing to a Greco-Roman Christian community after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE and as Christianity continues to figure out how to grow beyond Palestine. This was a time of deep fear and confusion.
The Jewish-Roman War (66-73 CE) had just torn apart the Jewish world. Rome had crushed the rebellion, slaughtering thousands. Christians were breaking away from Judaism, and deep divisions were forming between Jewish and Gentile believers. Persecution was real as Christians were increasingly viewed with suspicion by both Jews and Romans.
In this chaotic world, Luke’s community was likely struggling with who to love and who to exclude. Were Greeks and Romans their enemies? Were the Jewish leaders who rejected them their enemies? Could they trust Gentile believers?
Luke’s emphasis on God’s mercy for all wasn’t just theological, it was a survival strategy. If the early church wanted to grow, if it wanted to survive, it could not be built on vengeance, fear, or exclusion. It had to be built on mercy, generosity, and radical love. Even for enemies.
Preaching Possibilities
The Economy of Mercy
Jesus knows what we know: we are transactional people. We want fairness. We want reciprocity. We want to give kindness to those who are kind and return hostility to those who are hostile. But Jesus asks, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. Even the world operates that way.
But the economy of the kingdom runs on mercy, on giving without expectation and forgiving without conditions. Jesus says, love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Let’s sit with that: God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. That means God is kind to us. That means God is kind to the people we can’t stand. That means we don’t get to withhold mercy from others when God has already poured it out for them.
Living It Out
So what does this actually look like?
What does it mean to love our enemies in a world that thrives on division? What does it mean to bless those who curse us when every instinct tells us to hit back? What does it mean to give and forgive when it feels like we are being taken advantage of?
It starts with refusing to dehumanize the other. It starts with seeing people not as obstacles, but as beloved by God. It starts with believing in the kind of mercy that we ourselves have already received.
Because in the end, the measure we give will be the measure we get back. And Jesus has given us more mercy than we could ever deserve.
So now, how will we live it?
MLK – Love Your Enemies
In November of 1957, Dr. King, only 28 years old, gives a sermon: “Loving Your Enemies.” In this sermon Dr. King describes how hate distorts us, and love provides a way forward. That hate brings about destruction and love is redemptive. This was after he’d already been arrested unjustly in the Bus Boycotts. This is after his home had been bombed in January of 1956. Dr. King still preaches these words on “Love your Enemies.”
“Somebody must have sense enough to dim the lights, and that is the trouble, isn’t it? That as all of the civilizations of the world move up the highway of history, so many civilizations, having looked at other civilizations that refused to dim the lights, and they decided to refuse to dim theirs. And Toynbee tells that out of the twenty-two civilizations that have risen up, all but about seven have found themselves in the junkheap of destruction. It is because civilizations fail to have sense enough to dim the lights.8 And if somebody doesn’t have sense enough to turn on the dim and beautiful and powerful lights of love in this world, the whole of our civilization will be plunged into the abyss of destruction. And we will all end up destroyed because nobody had any sense on the highway of history. Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.
“There’s another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can’t see straight when you hate. You can’t walk straight when you hate. You can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted. There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case. For the person who hates, you can stand up and see a person and that person can be beautiful, and you will call them ugly. For the person who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the true becomes false and the false becomes true. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. The symbol of objectivity is lost. Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater.
Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That’s why Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you. Here’s the person who is a neighbor, and this person is doing something wrong to you and all of that. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. Don’t do anything to embarrass them. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with bitterness because they’re mad because you love them like that. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. “love your enemies.’”[1]
[1] https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/loving-your-enemies-sermon-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church
Micah Krey 
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