Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

"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. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect..."

This passage is almost a cliche - everyone has heard it at some point. Examples I've heard on what this means generally go something like "forgive your neighbors when they annoy you," or, if the speaker is really radical: "don't hurt back someone who hurts you." But that is not what the passage says.

It is only upon recent reflection that I am beginning to appreciate how irrational and frightening this passage really is, and how much we've neutered it in an effort to hide and justify our unwillingness and inadequacy. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Who can qualify as our enemy? I don't think the playground bully or the workplace mean girl or even the law school gunner defines the outer bounds of our responsibility here. Enemy, is the person who is the opposite of everything we believe in. Enemy, is the person whose very existence is a threat to our existence. People today, we pat each other on the back when we "respect those with different opinions" and "tolerate people we dislike". Those are great things. Maybe they're even the best we can hope for, since we rarely even accomplish that much. But they are a far cry from loving our enemies.

And that's before we even get to "pray for those who persecute us". Who are the people who persecute us? I don't think the person who dislikes us or gossips about us or annoys us is who is meant here. Rather, it is the person who wants to eliminate us - physically, mentally, socially, spiritually. And what does it mean to pray for them? When we pray for someone we are asking God to bless them. We are asking God to be with them, ultimately, so they can be with God forever - i.e. ascend to heaven. We are not asking for karma. We are not asking for judgment. We are interceding on their behalf and asking God to grant them something we ourselves may not even receive. And that is what we are called to do for those who persecute us. And if that's what we are to do for our enemies and persecutors, how much more are we to do for those who simply dislike us and irritate us!

I don't know if I can do it. If it frightens me now, I can't imagine how much more difficult it would be as the years go on, as conflicts mount and grudges harden and prayers of blessing turn into curses of judgment. But then again, it is not only my strength on which I have to rely. And if I can remember that, if I can rely on that, then maybe I can live not the safe and neutered life, content in my righteousness in the eyes of the world, but a life so crazy and irrational, that I can one day love my enemies. A life only possible, by intervention of the Divine.