A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the disciples about love of enemies as part of the Sermon on the Mount. He teaches them about the fulfillment of Mosaic law, about anger, adultery, divorce, and retaliation. In today’s passage on love of enemies, Jesus begins with the Old Testament way of thinking—love your neighbor and hate your enemy—and turns it upside down by telling the disciples to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. The reason for this, Jesus goes on to say, is so that the disciples may be children of the heavenly Father.
God, help me understand your ways. To love my enemies is to go against instinct and to call me to perfection. “So be perfect,” Jesus says, “just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Part of what makes it hard to love my enemies is to admit that I have enemies and hold grudges that keep them my enemies. Open my eyes, God, to my inability to pray for those who have hurt me and forgive them; help me make a return to you in childlike love and trust.
Teach me, Jesus, to love my enemies—the ones I encounter today and the ones I don’t see coming—so that your Spirit within me prays for them and forgives them. Lord, let me know you are near!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.