Luke 6:27–36 (ESV)
Love
Your Enemies
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes
away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.
31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
32 “If
you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you?
For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and
the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Jesus overthrows the common ethics of human
culture to emphasize the Father’s ways of love and mercy. God calls you to have self-sacrificing love. Pray for wisdom and patience with yourself as you put God’s ways into practice. The Father of all mercy will hear your plea. He is ever ready
to forgive and strengthen you.
I pray: Lord, lead me to love the ungrateful and the evil, even as You have loved and cared for me. Amen.
Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1721.