Luke 6:27-36: Love your enemies

I said yesterday that people listened to Jesus, and believed what he said. Some did, but others, obviously didn't. Jesus carries on his sermon by saying "But to you who are willing to listen I say, Love your enemies!"

What?? Sorry, didn't quite catch that. Love our - who??

What's the definition of an enemy?

One who feels hatred toward, intends injury to, or opposes another.

Yes, thank you, Mr Dictionary

You're welcome.

Pause to look over shoulder at where the disembodied voice came from ...

As I was saying, the definition of an enemy is someone I hate. So I can't love them, or they wouldn't be my ...

Oh I see. This means don't have enemies. God doesn't have enemies, does he? As Jesus says, "The Most High is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked." He doesn't treat them as enemies, he keeps on pouring out his blessings, no matter what they do.

Everything that Jesus says in this section amounts to "Be like God." Give without expecting to get anything back. Treat other people with all the kindness, grace and generosity you'd like them to show you. Reply to a curse with a blessing. Don't be afraid of running out of things if people take them. Why not? Because God will top you up. He never runs out.

If anybody actually believed this, they could open a channel of blessing that would go on pouring out more and more and more - and the more people took, the more it would give.

The domain of economics is the study of processes by which scarce resources are allocated to satisfy unlimited wants. 

That's Mr Dictionary again. In God's economy, scarce wants timidly call down only a tiny part of God's unlimited resources.