Jesus Grants What He Commands

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven … Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Matthew 5:43-45a, 48

During His three years of ministry, Jesus said one shocking thing after another. It was a divine wake-up call to all who heard His voice. God was doing a new thing, and God was doing it through Him. Jesus told the crowds that they needed to eat His flesh and drink His blood. He taught that if someone struck you in the face, you needed to offer the other cheek as well.

But Jesus’ most shocking teaching comes in the passage above, a teaching that no other religious teacher had ever imagined saying: “Love your enemies.” It’s an audacious command, and completely original to Jesus.

Loving anyone, even someone you truly care about, is challenging. The idea of loving someone who has hurt you, or who seeks your demise, seems unfathomable. What is the purpose of it? Why love your enemy? Loving one's enemy while they are still your enemy is a sign of weakness, not strength. Enemies are to be resisted, not embraced.

Jesus’ command is legitimized because He, too, had enemies. On the cross, Jesus said yet another audacious thing: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Jesus lived out this command to the bitter end.

This should inspire us to follow in His footsteps, but even so, it can feel as impossible to love our enemies as it is to be perfect, as God is perfect. The key is knowing it isn't entirely up to us. We simply cannot fulfill this command on our own.

John Piper has commented on this passage, “Jesus grants what he commands. The conditions for entering the coming Kingdom are enabled by the hidden, powerful presence of that kingdom in Jesus … the love command aims at repentance — the transformation of a man which sets him in a new relationship to God as well as to men. And finally, it is the omnipotent kindness of God which enables the fulfillment of the love command.”^[i]

Jesus grants what He commands. No amount of good intentions would equate to truly loving one’s enemy. On our own, we would fail to keep this commandment, just as we would fail to be perfect, because God is perfect. Only by the power of God can we accomplish such perfect love, even for our enemies. God gives us His Spirit so that we may fulfill the extraordinary things He commands.

[i] John Piper, Love Your Enemies: Jesus' Love Command in the Synoptic Gospels and the Early Christian Paraenesis, 85.