Matthew 5:43-48, the first phrase comes from Leviticus 19:17-18, you should love your neighbor as yourself, but this second phrase, you shall hate your enemy raises an interesting ambiguity in the original verse that Jesus is quoting from Leviticus 19:17-18. If somebody wrongs you, go tell them that wasn’t okay, but don’t take vengeance, don’t get payback, because vengeance belongs to Yahweh. In the context, the word neighbor has been preceded by three different words that make it clear we’re talking about fellow Israelites, in context, neighbor means your kinsmen. If you keep reading in the chapter there’s another statement that does deal with how you relate to non-Israelites, Leviticus 19:33. So actually, the love your non-Israelite neighbor as yourself, but there are multiple laws that actually do try and regulate situations when an Israelite is dealing with a hostile neighbor, Exodus 23:4.
The point is that Jesus is not actually offering a contrary teaching to the Old Testament, which is like just love other Israelites and let the rest of people take care of themselves, that’s not what the Torah was doing. However, you can see why these passages would raise a conversation about when and in what circumstances do you help a non-Israelite, are Israelites, do they get priority, who’s my neighbor? However, it says the non-Israelite living in your land, so this is somebody who’s come to live among the people of Israel. But what about your Greek in Jesus’ day, which is a thousand years after this, the occupiers or up the town from Jesus which is a culturally Greek and Roman city, majority non-Israelite and how do you relate to them if they wrong you, who is my neighbor?
There are passages where God’s person in a story will treat Israel’s enemies as God’s enemies and stick it to them, David especially. Psalm 139, which is actually a really beautiful poem, you made me, you knit me in my mother’s womb, but at the end of it, it has this line, don’t I hate those who hate you Yahweh…they are my enemies. Here’s an example of God’s anointed one who hates his enemies, because they’re God’s enemies. The Hebrew Bible is not simple when it comes to these topics and you can see why there would be a diversity of views. The context on the ground is foreign occupation by the Roman Empire, but it’s not just that, it’s what they represent is idolatrous pagan Empires and Rome’s just the most recent in over 500 years of these Empires, for many Jews it was patriotic, it was their religious duty to hate the Romans, that’s not how all Jews felt, but it’s how some felt.
The point is, Jesus is addressing a complex reality and we shouldn’t fall into this trap of thinking, the ancient Jews, they were legalistic and nationalistic, no, this is real life, these same tensions are raised in almost every culture still in the world today. So of course it’s going to be something Jesus speaks to them, how do you relate to people that you don’t like and some Jewish teachers his day found warrant in the scriptures, which means they thought it was the will of God, that all love the covenant people and people who come to live among us, but if you’re not on Abraham’s team, it’s okay if I don’t like you and I let you know about it and Jesus wants to mess with that. So Jesus just flips the words over, he just says love your enemies, that’s one of the most important things Jesus said, in terms of the history of ethical ideas, certainly the most explosive.
For all the times that I’m proud to be a follower of Jesus when it comes to these kinds of things, that is actually really a scandalous, personally challenging thing to love your enemy, because it’s easier for me to say that other people should love their enemies and people they don’t like. There’s a lot of wise generous kind people, who have people that don’t like them, because of tough decisions that they had to make and learning to be okay with that. Before we make this immediately individualized and personal, remember, this is a political social context that Jesus is saying these words in. Although the wisdom underneath this will give somebody insight with the difficult co-worker, but the reality on the ground was these occupiers.
The main inside is the use of this word love in both Hebrew and Greek refer not primarily to a feeling, what we would call a feeling affection, but more to an attitude that results in action towards another. What do you mean an attitude? An attitude, the mindset I will adopt, what I feel is that person just shamed me in public and they belong to a different tribe or a different social group and they don’t like people in my social group and they think they just shamed me. So what I feel is offended, hurt, angry, I want to get them back, I want to say something back or do something back, so Jesus would advocate a creative response that doesn’t do nothing, but that tries to change the dynamic to expose the ridiculousness and the brokenness of our context and of our society that makes these kinds of conflicts possible and the attitude I need to adopt as I try to use creative nonviolence is that of love, I choose to seek the well-being of another person, because I believe a story that says they are as valuable to God and to the people in my community, they matter as much as I do and I’m going to seek their well-being through creative non-violent response.
The point is that Jesus is not actually offering a contrary teaching to the Old Testament, which is like just love other Israelites and let the rest of people take care of themselves, that’s not what the Torah was doing. However, you can see why these passages would raise a conversation about when and in what circumstances do you help a non-Israelite, are Israelites, do they get priority, who’s my neighbor? However, it says the non-Israelite living in your land, so this is somebody who’s come to live among the people of Israel. But what about your Greek in Jesus’ day, which is a thousand years after this, the occupiers or up the town from Jesus which is a culturally Greek and Roman city, majority non-Israelite and how do you relate to them if they wrong you, who is my neighbor?
There are passages where God’s person in a story will treat Israel’s enemies as God’s enemies and stick it to them, David especially. Psalm 139, which is actually a really beautiful poem, you made me, you knit me in my mother’s womb, but at the end of it, it has this line, don’t I hate those who hate you Yahweh…they are my enemies. Here’s an example of God’s anointed one who hates his enemies, because they’re God’s enemies. The Hebrew Bible is not simple when it comes to these topics and you can see why there would be a diversity of views. The context on the ground is foreign occupation by the Roman Empire, but it’s not just that, it’s what they represent is idolatrous pagan Empires and Rome’s just the most recent in over 500 years of these Empires, for many Jews it was patriotic, it was their religious duty to hate the Romans, that’s not how all Jews felt, but it’s how some felt.
The point is, Jesus is addressing a complex reality and we shouldn’t fall into this trap of thinking, the ancient Jews, they were legalistic and nationalistic, no, this is real life, these same tensions are raised in almost every culture still in the world today. So of course it’s going to be something Jesus speaks to them, how do you relate to people that you don’t like and some Jewish teachers his day found warrant in the scriptures, which means they thought it was the will of God, that all love the covenant people and people who come to live among us, but if you’re not on Abraham’s team, it’s okay if I don’t like you and I let you know about it and Jesus wants to mess with that. So Jesus just flips the words over, he just says love your enemies, that’s one of the most important things Jesus said, in terms of the history of ethical ideas, certainly the most explosive.
For all the times that I’m proud to be a follower of Jesus when it comes to these kinds of things, that is actually really a scandalous, personally challenging thing to love your enemy, because it’s easier for me to say that other people should love their enemies and people they don’t like. There’s a lot of wise generous kind people, who have people that don’t like them, because of tough decisions that they had to make and learning to be okay with that. Before we make this immediately individualized and personal, remember, this is a political social context that Jesus is saying these words in. Although the wisdom underneath this will give somebody insight with the difficult co-worker, but the reality on the ground was these occupiers.
The main inside is the use of this word love in both Hebrew and Greek refer not primarily to a feeling, what we would call a feeling affection, but more to an attitude that results in action towards another. What do you mean an attitude? An attitude, the mindset I will adopt, what I feel is that person just shamed me in public and they belong to a different tribe or a different social group and they don’t like people in my social group and they think they just shamed me. So what I feel is offended, hurt, angry, I want to get them back, I want to say something back or do something back, so Jesus would advocate a creative response that doesn’t do nothing, but that tries to change the dynamic to expose the ridiculousness and the brokenness of our context and of our society that makes these kinds of conflicts possible and the attitude I need to adopt as I try to use creative nonviolence is that of love, I choose to seek the well-being of another person, because I believe a story that says they are as valuable to God and to the people in my community, they matter as much as I do and I’m going to seek their well-being through creative non-violent response.
