Last week our daily gospels were taken from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). A major theme was a series of three gospels was a description of progression in Christian discipleship in asking three foundational questions. Who is God shaping me to become? What effect is that transformed life meant to have on others? If that is who we are and how we are to be present to others, what is the “end game” of this mission into the world.
In yesterday’s gospel, we began to encounter passages in which Jesus begins with a familiar teaching and expressions from the Old Testament and then says: “But I say to you…” We started with the oft heard: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” I covered that gospel in detail. You can read the reflection here.
In today’s gospel, we encounter another familiar verse: “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” The first half comes from Scripture; the second half does not. The command: “You shall love your neighbor” comes directly from Leviticus 19:18. This command was already one of the great ethical teachings of Judaism. In fact, Jesus elsewhere identifies it as one of the two greatest commandments.
But what about “hate your enemy”? This phrase does not appear anywhere in the Old Testament. There is no verse saying: “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Rather, this appears to reflect a common inference or attitude that some people adopted. The logic may have been: If I must love my neighbor, then perhaps I do not have to love outsiders, enemies, or oppressors.
Some groups in Second Temple Judaism drew sharp distinctions between insiders and outsiders. This was the period after the exiles returned from Babylon (~540 BC) up into Jesus’ time and slightly beyond to ~70 AD. In that period the command to love one’s neighbor could sometimes be interpreted narrowly. Yet even the Old Testament contains passages that point beyond such a limitation. For example:
- Exodus 23:4-5 commands helping an enemy’s animal.
- Proverbs 25:21 teaches: “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat.”
So the seeds of Jesus’ teaching already exist within the Old Testament. And it makes sense when Jesus says: “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” He is correcting a restricted interpretation of the commandment and expanding the meaning of neighbor so that the disciple’s love is no longer limited by family, tribe, nationality, friendship, or reciprocity. Why? Because this is how God acts. This is who we are to become.
Jesus says: “He makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” We are being taught that God’s love extends beyond those who deserve it. And we are called to imitate that divine generosity.
Yesterday’s gospel and today’s form a logical progression. To the question: How should I respond when someone wrongs me? Jesus answers: do not retaliate. To question: How should I regard those who oppose me? Jesus answers: Love them and pray for them.
Yesterday’s gospel moves beyond revenge. Today’s moves beyond mere non-retaliation to active love. Jesus’ “but I say to you” is not rejecting the Old Testament for it already teaches: mercy, forgiveness, care for enemies, and God’s universal compassion. Jesus came not to reject the teachings of the Old Testament but to fulfill them by bringing the already existing principles to a new and unprecedented fullness by making love of the enemy as a central mark of discipleship. And he does more than teach it. He lives it. The fullest commentary on these passages is not found in a legal text but on the Cross when Jesus prays: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
That is why the early Christians understood these sayings not merely as ethical ideals, but as a description of the life of Christ himself – a life into which disciples are invited to grow.
Image credit: Sermon on the Mount (1877) by Carl Heinrich Bloch, Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Public Domain
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