04/15/2024 – How Far Can Our Love Reach?
Matthew 5: 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Love your enemies? How difficult… right? Sometimes it seems to us that God asks us for the impossible. And in a sense, it’s true! If we are honest, we must recognize that we cannot fulfill any commandment from God by our own strength. That’s why we need Christ. He is the only one who has fulfilled all the commandments of our heavenly Father, and who produces in us the desire and power to fulfill them by his Holy Spirit.
Natural love has very limited reach. We talk about our “loved ones” as a small, very exclusive group of people who are either close family or with a lot of effort have managed to earn our love. We are also very selective with our friends. How difficult it is for someone to earn our trust … and even after accepting them, we quickly cut off a friendship when they let us down.
But the love of Christ is a holy love. That love is not limited to close family members, nor to those with whom we have much in common. That love extends to the stranger, to the sinner, to the one who thinks and acts differently from us. Christ reaches those who hate him, insult him, and persecute him. Christ asked for forgiveness for His enemies as they nailed him to the cross. In the heart of Christ there was not a shadow of resentment for them. Christ expanded the dimensions of love higher, deeper, and wider than anyone had ever loved before. Paul prays that we may understand the dimensions of this love. That is the love he gives us when we receive the Holy Spirit. We must extend it beyond all human limitation, even to our enemies. He commands it.