That You May Be Sons of Your Father – Matthew 5:43-48

USA reporter Kirsten Powers wrote in her article about Christians forgiving the unspeakable that at the 2015 bond hearing of Dylan Roof, who shot and killed 9 members of the Charleston, South Carolina Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Christians did something remarkable.

When Christians are in the news, it’s usually because they have done something wrong — they’ve gotten on the wrong side of a culture war or cheated on their wife, or worse. What the world rarely gets to see is the powerful grace that flows from a deep faith predicated on the belief that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness. The family members of those slain at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church bore witness to this central tenet of Christianity last week as the nation gasped in awe. “I forgive you,” one after another told the stone-faced and unrepentant alleged killer.

She wrote,

Tweeting about the incredible scene, National Review writer Charles C. W. Cooke noted, “I am a non-Christian, and I must say: This is a remarkable advertisement for Christianity.” Thankfully, the circumstances requiring forgiveness don’t always involve the murder of a loved one. But sometimes they do.

No doubt those listening to Jesus’ sermon on the mount were in awe, as well, as he taught about this radical love.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48 ESV)

This is actually the heart of the heart of the Law, the ultimate motivation that makes all the difference in how one sees the righteousness of the Law.  It is love.  Leviticus 19:18 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The Bible nowhere says, “Hate your enemy.”  But the interpretation of the teachers of Israel had settled at this place.  Jesus challenges and rejects this view.  We have to be as righteous as God, and He shows love to all, the evil and the good.  Unbelievers love those who love them.  The followers of the King and subjects of the kingdom must do better than that.  We must be perfect as the Father is perfect in His love.

This means we must love our enemies.  The very ones who are seeking our hurt and even our demise must be the ones we are praying for.  We may long for justice against their unjust actions, but we need to pray for their conversion to the truth, that they would repent and be born again and so enter the kingdom.  Unbelievers have the hardest time with this requirement.  Should Jews have prayed for Hitler to be converted and forgiven for all his atrocities, or relatives of those killed by Jeffrey Dahmer (who did profess faith in Christ in prison before he died), or should we pray for ISIS or Al Quaeda leaders and members to be saved?  Though unbelievers want to be shown grace, this kind of grace offends them.  Instead of the normal question, “How could a God of love allow such evil,” their question becomes, “How could a God of justice allow such love.”

The righteousness of the kingdom is perfection of love.  God does not brook less than love for those who know Him.  He doesn’t say we are allowed to love in a limited way.  “Limited love” isn’t love and because there is no better way than love and God desires the very best for us, He requires it of us.  Our mistake, of course, is to think that we somehow have the ability in ourselves to love like this and meet this standard, and that God expects this of us in order to merit His love.  But He loves His enemies and such were we.  He forgave us when we didn’t deserve it, simply because we hungered for righteousness, and in poverty of spirit trusted in Jesus the Messiah for redemption.  We repented at the preaching of the kingdom because He put repentance in our hearts.  The meek have inherited the earth.