March 8, 2023
John Stott remarks, "The glory of the gospel is that when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it.” Here, more than anywhere else, can we see the distinction between worldliness and godliness. It is one thing to forgive somebody who inadvertently and insignificantly wrongs you - but how should we engage with those who set out to sin against us; those who plan and engineer opportunities to do us harm? In Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus says “love your enemies” and “pray for those who persecute you.” His command, which is set against an ethical teaching of his day “love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” opposes our own tendencies to cut out “toxic people” and curate our relationships on the basis of personal flourishing. After all, why should we hang out with our haters?
Jesus’ teaching invites us to consider God’s own disposition towards rebellious humanity. ”And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,” Elsewhere, in Romans 5:8, Paul states that God’s love for us is revealed in the fact that he sent his son to die while we were still sinful. This all comes into powerful relief at the foot of the cross, where Jesus intercedes for his executioners saying “forgive them, they know not what they do.” Jesus distinguishes godly grace from human kindness with four rhetorical questions: two that address behaviors, and two that draw comparisons to gentiles and tax collectors. Social comparison is meaningless, but our apprehension of and life within the standard of holiness found in God himself is the only true measure of goodness.
We cannot, on our own, accomplish Jesus’ last command to be perfect like our heavenly Father. But we can thank God that he sent his son, so that his perfection, when grasped by faith, would cover our guilt and actually permeate our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. As we struggle with lives filled with hostility - what more can we do than pray to Jesus, “Lord help me love them in the same way that you have loved me”?
-Matt Allhands