The Enemy - the "Extraordinary"
The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behaviour must be determined not by the way otters treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one sour, and the is the will of Jesus. [... the page over] As brother stands by brother in distress, binding up his wounds and soothing his pain, so let us show our love toward our enemy. There is no deeper distress to be found in the world, no pain more bitter than our enemy's. Nowhere is service more necessary or more blessed than when we serve our enemies. "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Uhh, did you just read that?
Now try to tell me that "loving your enemy" doesn't go against everything your mind tells you is just and fair... You can't. The teaching of Jesus is revolutionary, He asks us to go completely against our human nature, to LOVE OUR ENEMIES.
As I am writing this I am drawn back to a conversation I had with a group of friends over the controversy of being able to 'love' someone and not 'like' them. I was one of the first ones within the group to say that 'love' is possible without 'like', however, as I now look at the extreme's that Jesus speaks of I am wondering whether my original position can be supported.
Would not the overwhelming sense of love automatically encapsulate the definition of 'like' within itself? Man, I think I may be getting ahead of myself. This is something that I'll have to do some pondering and studying about.
Until then, peace.
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