Another Supplement to Mark 12:28-34

Another Supplement to Mark 12:28-34  

Another question came to me regarding “Love of the Neighbor." Are we really to “love“ our enemies, even if they have badly hurt us? That would be very difficult.   Here is a response to that question.

 

Honest questions are good, and follow-up questions for more clarity are also good. (We have seen lots of times in the Gospel of Mark where the religious leaders, though, are questioning Jesus to attack Him or to try to trick Him and to get Him into trouble. That is not a good way to ask questions, and the questioners usually were not even wanting to listen for the answer or genuinely wanting to learn something from Jesus.)

You are asking a good question about something that is very difficult, impossible to live out perfectly in our lives. Jesus is very clear about love for others, even our enemies. See Matthew 5:43-48. See also the verses just before, v. 38-42. This is part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus describes what the Law of God really means and is calling us to do it perfectly (5:48). If we are honest, we know we cannot do all this as we should. This is the Law at work to show us our sins and that we are hopeless without Jesus and what he did for us.

Jesus did live a life of perfect love for us and the world. He gave His life for us and for the world to forgive all our sins and make us acceptable in God’s eyes. He prayed from the cross for the forgiveness of the very people who put Him on the cross, including us, as our sins helped put Him there (Luke 23:34). Read Romans 5:6-10. We were “weak," “ungodly," “sinners," even “enemies” of God, when Jesus gave His life for us to “reconcile” us to God and “save” us. It was by the “amazing grace," the undeserved love and favor of God for us, in Christ, that we were saved and now can be called “friends” of God.

If Jesus loved us that much, then we are called to try to love others, even our enemies, as He has loved us. That does not mean that we have to “like” others and what they do. We cannot approve of the evil that is done to us and others by some. We can even fight against that evil and defend ourselves. We can also get away from evil people and situations, when that is possible and best for us. At the same time, we are still called to “love” those people, in the sense of caring about them and wishing and praying that they find forgiveness and peace, too, as we have, in Christ.

This kind of “love” is very difficult to have, and not one of us has that love perfectly and at all times. Only Jesus has had that love  for us and others, in our place. We too need continual forgiveness for our failures and lack of love. We live only by the grace of God. If there is to be vengeance and judgment, let that be up to God, in His time and way. See passages like Romans 12:14-21 and 1 Peter 2:21-25 and 3:9. And as we know we need God’s mercy, so we try to wish that mercy for others, too. But it is very hard to do, at times.

Much more could be said. God also provides government and courts to keep some peace and order in a very sinful world. Sometimes governmental authorities rightly carry out judgments for wrongdoing. When the Old Testament speaks of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" in the laws of a nation, it is referring to what we would say today in terms of “letting the punishment fit the crime.” But that is for government to determine, not for us as individuals to determine and carry out in our personal lives. We can try to influence the laws of a nation for good; but government has different responsibilities from what we have as Christians and churches. See Romans 13:1-10.

Finally, we can keep praying that the Lord will give us more caring, forgiving hearts, for very difficult people we sometimes have to deal with, and that their own hearts may change over time, too, as we try to reflect Christ’s love and care to them.  People may resist all that we try to do, but we at least have tried to respond with care, not hate.