Love Your Enemies: The Radical Kindness of Jesus – Luke 6:27-31

Commentary

Verse 27, he said, but to you who are listening, I say. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Now, undoubtedly Jesus’ teaching is -well, it’s some of the purest, most elevated ethical teaching in all of history. Nobody has ever said anything like that before. Is that easy to do? Very far from it. But what we can say with confidence is that is exactly what Jesus Himself does. He literally turns the other cheek. He blesses and prays for those who hate him and he gives his life for sinners. And the greatest act of kindness of all is the cross of Christ. The apostle Paul puts it like this in his epistle to the Romans. Just at the right time when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will someone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might perhaps dare to die. But God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So you see, real kindness is first and foremost a commitment to the good of another without any expectation of something in return.