Matthew 5:44 - "[Jesus said], But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
Luke 23:34 - "And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'"
May I be honest? Brutally honest. No, I don't want to tell you about you. I need to tell you about me.
Here's the thing. As I look at my life of fifty plus years, I see that I'm not good at all about loving my enemies. There. Now it's out there.
Ya see, I hear Jesus telling me in one of today's verses to "love my enemies" (Matthew 5:44). But what I find myself doing is not caring about my enemies. Ya know, I feel good about not being bitter and resentful towards them because I've gotten to a point over time where I don't care about them. Remember, the opposite of love is not hate; it's apathy and not caring. So, I don't really love my enemies, as Jesus commands; I just don't care about them anymore.
There are two reasons that it's important for me to confess. One is that, I don't know, maybe you need to confess that too, and hearing somebody else confess something sometimes makes it easier for us to confess the same.
But the other reason to confess it is to point out the contrast. On the one hand, Jesus commands me to love my enemies. He commands me to actually care about my enemies. Ya know, care about their salvation. And I find it hard. I mean, they're my enemy!!! And yet, in contrast, on the other hand, there's Jesus in today's other verse from Luke 23:34, showing that he cares by praying "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Wow! That's amazing. He's hanging on a cross, the cross that I deserve. And he cares. He really cares. To his last breath on the original Good Friday, Jesus cares about his enemies. Jesus cares about us sinners. Man, that's love. True love. Divine love. The kind of love that I'm clearly incapable of. The kind of love that I'm only capable of having come out of me, if Jesus, who is capable, comes into me. So, he loves me, his enemy, so much, that he dies, asking forgiveness for me so that he can come live in me so that I can pass on his love. Because by myself, there's no way I'm passing on his love. But if he'll die so he can pour out his Holy Spirit and come live in me, then he can pass on that amazing love through me.
Try wrapping your head around all this. May I be honest? Brutally honest. You can't. You can't wrap your head around the mystery of Christ's love for you, a sinner and his enemy, on the cross. You just can't.
What you have to do is this. Instead of trying to wrap your mind around his amazing love, you have to believe him in your heart. You have to believe that he cares. That he truly cares about you. That when he prays "Father, forgive them," then he means it. Because he loves you. Because he cares about your soul.
And if you do, if you truly believe that he wants you to be forgiven, then you will be saved. Ya know, from yourself and your sin, sins like not praying for your enemy.
Wow, Jesus cares about me and about you and about all us poor sinners. That's why he prayed "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And that's why it's called Good Friday.
May God continue to bless you as you take time today, Good Friday, and everyday to remember and believe and pass on God's amazing love for you through Jesus.
Praise God!
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