Going against the grain: LOVE our enemies! | The Gospel of the Day

Our verse for the day is found in Matthew, chapter 5 verses 43 to 44. Let us read: “You have heard that it was said: You shall love your neighbor and you shall hate your enemy. But I tell you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you. »

Our reading of the day is located in a set of texts called "The Sermon on the Mount", it is a series of teachings which begins in chapter 5 and goes to chapter 7 inclusive of the Gospel according to Matthew .

In this series of teachings, Jesus exposes to his disciples the charter of his kingdom. If it were election time, we would be talking about Jesus Christ's plan for his kingdom. If you are looking for a summary of the teachings of Jesus, to have a clear heart, I advise you to refer to it. We pay a lot of attention to the teachings, to the books, to the sermons of this or that preacher, popular or not, but nothing beats the price of exposing our heart to the teachings of the preacher par excellence: Jesus Christ.

Thus in this series called "The Sermon on the Mount", Jesus proceeds to a long series of deprogramming, reinterpretation, explanation, clarification, with the sole purpose of helping his disciples to grasp the true meaning of the perfect law. of God. Several times, he will say to them: "You have heard that it was said [...] but I tell you..."

Oh, how often do we get trapped and eventually become slaves to certain assertions of religious leaders or preachers who gradually become thought leaders? Some Christians have lost all their freedom in Christ and they have voluntarily enslaved themselves to the worldview of an individual, which unfortunately in some circles, leads to practices of manipulation and control.

Let us not forget that what counts in the eyes of God is the spirit of the law more than its legalistic observance. In his process of deprogramming what his disciples had learned before, Jesus goes further: to be a disciple is to live, here on earth, the reality of another world. In other words, if you only love your friend, what are you doing that is exceptional? Non-Christians also love their friends.

To be a disciple is to be different in a world that forces us to conform. This is why the apostle Paul said: "Do not conform to the present age, but be transformed by the renewal of the intelligence so that you discern what is the will of God, which is good, pleasant and perfect." (Romans 12.2)

Jesus asks four things that are humanly impossible, but obligatory all the same, from anyone who positions himself as his disciple: to love his enemies, to bless those who curse you, to do good to those who hate you, to pray for those who mistreat you and persecute. I will be honest with you, what the Lord is asking here is humanly very difficult for me to achieve without the help of the Holy Spirit. But if the Lord asks me, it's for a valid reason. We will not share the heaven of the Lord Jesus according to our own criteria but according to his.

It is said one day that: “It was during the Christmas holidays and a gentleman had parked his car to go and buy a newspaper. He noticed a dirty boy in ragged clothes staring at his car. He told himself that if he didn't hurry, he would certainly miss a hubcap on the way back. he came back with the newspaper under his arm and as he was opening the car door, the boy asked him: “Sir! How much should a new car like this cost? The gentleman replied: I don't know, my brother gave it to me last year at Christmas. With disbelieving eyes, the boy stared at the car in wonder. Then he says something unexpected. He didn't say what you would have thought: “Oh! I wish I had a car like that! No, he said, “Oh! How I would like to be, me too, a brother like that! »

Let us therefore be brothers and sisters who know how to give visible, tangible and liberating love to others.

Gabriel oleko