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February 18, 20221 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38
“Love your enemies.” We know it as one of the hallmarks of being Christian. But practicing it in the heat of conflict and in the face of our enemies is just plain hard. In First Samuel, we read of David being pursued by King Saul. Saul wants to kill him. He is David’s enemy. But David refuses to kill him, even when the perfect opportunity presents itself. David will not raise his hand against the one God anointed king. We hear that “The LORD will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness.” In this case, faithfulness to God and God’s justice look a lot like mercy. Saint Paul reminds us of our identity: “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy one [Adam], so we shall bear the image of the heavenly one [Christ].” Yes, we are human. We are part of the family of Eve and Adam, Cain and Abel…the long list of our ancestors who chose revenge, selfishness, and more, over mercy. But our first identity, before the fall of Adam and Eve, is that we are made in God’s image; a God who is, as the Psalm reminds us, “kind and merciful…slow to anger…abounding in kindness…the LORD has compassion.” This mercy, the Psalm says, has been extended to us: “He pardons all your iniquities…as far as east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us.” We are simply being asked to treat others the way God has treated us in our missteps. Jesus, in his well known words about loving our enemies and turning the other cheek, ends his teaching with this: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Have you ever considered that the call to love our enemies is a call to be merciful to those who need mercy the most? If we want to be God’s image in the world, we simply cannot do it without being merciful. Jesus gives us a nice roadmap for being merciful too: “Stop judging…stop condemning…forgive…give.”