“LOVE YOUR ENEMIES”

       Boy, sure hear this one from within the church as well as society picking and choosing their only Scripture that they know—along with “don’t judge”—and all taken out of context.  Our entire society is immersed with tolerance and suicidal empathy.  But what did Jesus actually mean in His wording, the historical context of the day, and the audience?   We in our arrogant ignorance have flattened this statement into a refrigerator magnet at your grandma’s house.  “Be nice,” or “be kind” is simplistically taking a 2000 year statement by the Son of God Jesus losing all of the teeth that Jesus put into the linguistic bite.  Jesus was being radical, as He normally harassing the religious elite and the ruling Roman government. 

       When I say the word “enemy” today, it probably means something different to me as a combat Marine than you as the liberal school teacher with an 8-year old student with ADHD.  We use this word to picture someone from the opposite political party, or a passive aggressive coworker in meetings, or an ex-spouse who has gaslighted us to our children with no ability to come back and retrieve the relationship.  Yes, enemies all.  This is our modern definition and personal and emotional etymology of the word “enemy.”

       Now, that word is not even remotely defined the same as the crowds gathered on the hillside listening to Jesus’sermon was thinking or picturing.  These were the people living under military occupation.  The Roman empire took their land, taxed them into poverty, and would routinely nail people to a cross if they even looked like they were going to resist.  Now—THAT’S an ENEMY in the truest sense.  The Romans weren’t enemies because they blocked the Jews from social media or triggered the Jewish micro-aggressions.  The enemy was referring to those who held the power of life or death.  Jesus was definitely not handing out a heartfelt call for interpersonal harmony.  He was saying something loco to people who had every legitimate reason in the world, including Him, to want these people dead.

       To support my premise, let’s go back to the language of Jesus.  Jesus’ words were not English, not Greek, but the Hebrew because Jesus was a Jewish rabbi talking to Jews who understood the deep history of the Jewish faith and context. The words “love” and “enemy” had centuries of definition unlike we see linguistically today when words change meaning daily.  So, let’s unpack this word-by-word and God’s commands-by-command.  “Love your enemies” is going to mean something completely different to you after this.

       Love—the majority of confusion comes with this word alone.  Love in English brings a very different connotation—fuzzy feelings, butterflies, warmth, my dogs, my wedding, a new suit…and the list goes on.  In this day and age, “love” is mainly considered and defined as an emotion.  If that is the true definition in today’s society, then to “love your enemies” is virtually impossible.  You simply cannot manufacture an emotion—it either is or it isn’t.  So, if Jesus is asking us to manufacture an emotion of love to someone who hurts, molests, or kills your kid, betrayed your trust, cheated on you, stole all of your stuff, or tried to ruin your life—well that is not a moral demand, rather, it is a psychological trap.  This sets people up to fail and then feel guilty about failing for something that was impossible to achieve in the first place.  This isn’t what Jesus is asking of us.

       The Hebrew word underneath all of this is אַהֲבָה (ah-hah-VAH) and shows up everywhere in the Hebrew Scripture.  It is most used as a word of action and commitment—essentially a covenant word.  In Hebrew thought and use of this word, love is something you do and not something you feel.  It is a decision to act on someone’s genuine good on purpose whether or not your heart is in it.

       In the near east and the history of nation-states, when a lesser king loved his sovereign king, it was legal and political language for loyalty and faithful action within that treaty or arrangement.  When we read in the Bible for husbands to love their wives, this means to “orient their behavior, time, resources, and protection” to their wife. 

       Another word used is כָּבוֹד or “kavod” as in to honor.  It doesn’t mean to feel warmly toward, it literally refers to weight, and giving someone their due weight, respect, and how you treat them…and it doesn’t matter if they earned it.  For example, you can abide by the commandments and honor a parent, even if you don’t like a single thing about how they reared you.  Ah-hah-VAH love runs parallel to this.

       Love is never about the internal, rather, it is about the external.  Ahavah love is transactional in the healthiest meaning of that word.  Love is what you owe, love is what you do, regardless of the emotional, physical, or material tax rate you are paying.  This can be a brutal concept.  In Proverbs 25 it tells us that if your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat.  Thirsty?  Well, give him water.  Nothing in there tells me to text evil and disloyal members of my family a bright shining “good morning!,” with a heart emoji.  NO!  The text is simple, if he’s hungry then feed him, thirsty, give him water.  That’s it.

       What a relief that is as I don’t have to do emotional cheetah flips at something the enemy never deserved and I would end up failing with in the extended play version.  I have zero responsibility to manufacture affection for someone who wronged me.  I just can’t allow their wrongdoing to turn me into the type of person who would allow someone to go hungry or thirsty.  The key is that plenty of times we have given medical attention to an enemy combatant.  We do and train to do the right thing.

       Its still hard, but going to the gym is hard.  Staying true to a diet is hard.  You see, one is a discipline and the other a pipe-dream.  You see, love is verb and not vibe—you do more than feel emotions.  Under the ah-hah-VAH love, you can still be angry but refusing to act toward their good is the opposite.  Clear as mud?  Biblically, the person doing the loving is generally the most angry and offended.  It is all about doing the right thing while feeling the wrong thing.  That friction that we feel is obedience that costs us something, perhaps even everything. 

       Let’s talk about the other half of this equation in the word “enemy.”  The Hebrew word Jesus uses is אוֹיֵב “oyev” and appears over 280 times in the Hebrew Bible.  This word comes from a nomadic, tribal, honor, and shame culture from living in a harsh, resource scarce environment.  An enemy was someone tied to you through a blood feud.  Rival clans that killed your kinsmen generations back, and the debt was still open.  This enemy is high stakes, life and death.  Real blood, real loss, and real generational grudges.  So, when Hebrew law starts discussing who is an enemy, its not about beeping your horn at a knucklehead texting on their phone ignoring the green light, but about regulating behavior between parties with genuine and even lethal history.  There is a Hebrew law in Genesis 23:4-5 that is one of the most radical pieces of legislation in the ancient world that no one talks of.  The law is, if you meet one of your enemies’ donkeys or ox going astray, you have to bring it back to him.  Livestock was an integral part of the economy, pretty important, NOT your property, give it back to your enemy.  The Scripture even uses the word “hate,” and you are allowed to hate right back, just do the right thing.

       Loving your enemy does not mean handing them the gun, knife, spear, or sword.  It does not mean to disarm yourself, drop your boundaries, or trusting someone who has caused us great harm.  The deep meaning of this is “PROTECT YOURSELF.”  You are to set real, non-negotiable boundaries while pursuing justice through whatever legitimate channels exist.  All protections are permitted and considered wise. 

       The hard spiritual work is to not allow the enemy to reshape who you are or alter the very architecture of your soul.  There is a reciprocal relationship with hate that perpetuates itself depending the action one takes.  One can be contemptuous whereas you can establish an impenetrable boundary.  Loving your enemy means getting out of your cave like David against Saul, keep your sword sharp, and protect your people by any means necessary but never becoming the same Spirit as your enemy.  Trust me, that is NOT weakness as it is probably the most difficult and strongest thing a human can do.

       Let’s take my argument to its strongest possible finale of Jesus hanging on the cross.  Mocked, humiliated, betrayed, tortured, and abandoned.  All the while looking down at the very people who drove the nails in His hands and did this very thing to Him.  And Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Do you notice what is Not happening?  He never said He felt warm affection for those torturing him.  That would be insane and disturbing if true.  What Jesus was the highest stakes version of ah-hah-VAH in the entire story of Jesus—an action and choice in the face of excruciating agony.  Jesus doesn’t feel it, he does it!

       Let’s continue a deeper love and enemy discussion.  Here is our environment.  We live in an “outrage economy” as every platform makes more money than you on each algorithm that you click on thus perpetuating the lies and drama and trauma in your life.  That is the enemy.  Algorithm contempt gets more amplified in your algorithms than compassion.  We are being training daily by systems that keep us enraged or cementing us in the victim category.  We are being trained not to critically think of the other side as just the other side—they are evil, subhuman, the enemy.  Meanwhile, we are living daily through election cycles, and the ad hominem names come out like traitors, evil, fascist, nazi, a threat to democracy, and this type of language transcends politics into how we address one another.

       I just officiated a military funeral where the daughter to receive the flag told me to tell the young military professionals to NOT say “on behalf of the President of the United States” because she didn’t like the president.  I gently informed her that the young airman’s statement had NOTHING to do with her but the highest office of the land and her father’s honorable service.  How arrogant is she?  It was difficult for me to be kind because she arrogantly believed the funeral was for her and not to honor her dear father.  Serious control issues. 

       So, what does “loving our enemy” actually look like practically in today’s environment?  It requires us to refuse to  dehumanize the person on the other side of the chat window.  We are allowed to disagree, absolutely allowed…you can vote against them, argue with them on topic and with vigor.  Absolutely nothing about “love your neighbor” means you have to go soft on anything unrighteous or concepts counter to Biblical TRUTH.  I will never disallow anyone to be a person because I disagree with them.  This is stepping outside of ah-hah-VAH and lacking the ability to maintain boundaries…but I will certainly bring some educated and informed intellectual heat.  Be cautious who you are will to step into the ring with.  The progressive liberal left will burn your house or business down, and even go so far as to beat you and kill you.  Think about their definition of “love.”  I won’t even waste time arguing with these psychotics, its like having an healthy and unproductive rivalry with nothingness.