STEEMCHURCH: Love the enemy?

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"You have heard that it was said: You shall love your neighbor, and you shall hate your enemy. But I say to you: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you ... "(Matthew 5, 43-44)

The first time I read this biblical passage, I felt quite disconcerted. I had focused so much on conceiving love as one of the most perfect blessings in heaven for the exclusive complementation between those beings "who love each other", that express love towards the enemy, that is, to that person who does not show love towards one and which rather makes "merits" so that I do not love him, it seemed a contradiction to me.

Since that first time I scrutinized this biblical text of the gospel, many years have passed. And little by little, the father of heaven has taken charge of enlightening me with his spirit towards the discernment of such a high teaching.

Without doubt, the first to give us the example of perfect love is Jehovah our God. His grace is the greatest expression of love that He could have given us. Because out of love and mercy, far from being hard on humanity so imperfect, God detached himself from his son and sent him to earth, and through him, he transmitted to us his infinite love, calling us to repentance and inviting us to live a new life and save our soul.

And his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, did nothing more than proclaim and live this truth, that we love one another. Even on the cross, Jesus Christ called on God to forgive those who had crucified Him! Proving in this way that he followed the teachings of his father, and that love is mercy and forgiveness for one's neighbor even when he pays poorly to one.

We can also exemplify the life of the apostle Paul, who before becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, was an incarnated persecutor of Christians. But God did not take long to show his grace and love towards him, and instead of punishing him for life, he exhorted him to repentance and endowed him with the holy spirit, with which he was instituted an apostle. This is also a divine example of how God repays with love, correction and compassion, the hatred that can come to exist in the hearts of humans.

However, it is also true that before the error of the neighbor, exhortation (not revenge!) Is imperative for there to be repentance and, therefore, forgiveness arises. This is what Jesus Christ teaches us when he says: "If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repented, forgive him "(Luke 17: 3).

How many times have we not felt revealed of our own actions when we have heard someone's exhortation? Because our heavenly father strongly exhorted his children in antiquity, he called them to repentance with a word of authority and those who were
able to hear, they were saved.

The same thing happened with Jesus, who seeing merchants in the temple, cast them with authority demonstrating his zeal for the fulfillment of his father's word, but then he again exhorted them to repent and save their souls, thus showing greatness of his soul.

Perhaps we still harbor mixed feelings about this word. If we consider loving the one who harms us, it could be resonating in our inner being phrases like "It would not be fair ...", "I would not deserve it ...". But what is certain is that love, in its divine nature, does not distinguish the neighbor.

Whether this is an angelic being with us or someone who hurts us, the love in our hearts should always be love; or in the words of the Apostle Paul: "love is long-suffering, it is kind; love is not jealous, love is not boastful, does not get puffed up, does not do anything wrong, does not seek its own, does not get angry, does not hold a grudge, does not enjoy injustice, more enjoys the truth. Everything suffers, everything believes, everything waits, everything endures ... "And adds wisely:" Love never ceases to be love ... ".