I love this! So helpful during a time when I have so many people in my life that I want to be angry with. This helped me sort out my feelings and my reaction. Thank you so much!
Well said. I'm not finding it particularly easy to feel charitable toward Donald or Elon when their callous choices are hurting so many people both here and around the world. My baby steps at the moment are working hard to treat people wearing MAGA hats with respect and dignity.
“So what did Jesus mean by ‘love your enemies’? Jesus was talking about loving action—about actions that are the opposite of hatefulness. He was talking about love as an action, not love as a nice feeling.”
I have to respectfully disagree with your reframe of what Jesus said. The full quote is “Love your enemies AND do good to those who hate you [emphasis added]” (Luke 6:27-38). You changed the left side of the “AND” to actions (“love as action” and on the right, “do good”). I take Jesus to really mean what he said… “love your enemies.” Hard? Yes! But it’s what scholar James Fowler was talking about in his research on spiritual growth as published in his 1981 book Stages of Faith. In his highest stage (that few attain) he finds people emanating, among other things, the universal principle of love to all. To me that’s agape… what Jesus was talking about (and according to the Bible actually said).
I agree with what you say about the highest stages of faith. But “love of enemies” is not just a practice for the spiritual few. Doing loving action to our enemies (ie treating enemies respectfully) is akin to “doing good” toward our prosecutors (a somewhat different category than our enemies) and is something for all of us to do, not just the spiritual elites of Fowler’s construct. But we can agree to disagree. Thanks for commenting.
Thanks for your response! I wholeheartedly agree doing loving action to our enemies is important, while at the same time I wish we would embrace spiritual growth as articulated by Fowler. Before this past election I visited the largest church in a town of about 10,000 is Oregon. The pastor said “Trump” three times and ended his sermon with “we’re all Republicans here.” That’s tribalism. I would have been just as disappointed if he had said “we’re all Democrats here.” My point… it seems (depending on who is counting) about 60% of us are at this level of spiritual development.
Reacting to a similar statement from Jesus, “love your neighbor,” an Episcopal priest friend of mine acknowledged how difficult this is by saying “I don’t really even like my neighbor!” So, she enrolled in a workshop designed to increase our capacity for perspective taking, empathy, and compassion. In other words, she took action to increase her spiritual growth. I think that is great modeling. And I also think doing loving action to our enemies will promote spiritual growth. I guess I’m just sad taking action in pursuit of spiritual growth seems to be hidden from so many of us. It’s a journey. Thanks for your voice.
Thank you. Over 70 & determined but also despairing of current politics. This is a bit of a balm.
I love this! So helpful during a time when I have so many people in my life that I want to be angry with. This helped me sort out my feelings and my reaction. Thank you so much!
So glad it was helpful. Thanks for commenting!
Well said. I'm not finding it particularly easy to feel charitable toward Donald or Elon when their callous choices are hurting so many people both here and around the world. My baby steps at the moment are working hard to treat people wearing MAGA hats with respect and dignity.
Thanks as always, Chris!
“So what did Jesus mean by ‘love your enemies’? Jesus was talking about loving action—about actions that are the opposite of hatefulness. He was talking about love as an action, not love as a nice feeling.”
I have to respectfully disagree with your reframe of what Jesus said. The full quote is “Love your enemies AND do good to those who hate you [emphasis added]” (Luke 6:27-38). You changed the left side of the “AND” to actions (“love as action” and on the right, “do good”). I take Jesus to really mean what he said… “love your enemies.” Hard? Yes! But it’s what scholar James Fowler was talking about in his research on spiritual growth as published in his 1981 book Stages of Faith. In his highest stage (that few attain) he finds people emanating, among other things, the universal principle of love to all. To me that’s agape… what Jesus was talking about (and according to the Bible actually said).
I agree with what you say about the highest stages of faith. But “love of enemies” is not just a practice for the spiritual few. Doing loving action to our enemies (ie treating enemies respectfully) is akin to “doing good” toward our prosecutors (a somewhat different category than our enemies) and is something for all of us to do, not just the spiritual elites of Fowler’s construct. But we can agree to disagree. Thanks for commenting.
Thanks for your response! I wholeheartedly agree doing loving action to our enemies is important, while at the same time I wish we would embrace spiritual growth as articulated by Fowler. Before this past election I visited the largest church in a town of about 10,000 is Oregon. The pastor said “Trump” three times and ended his sermon with “we’re all Republicans here.” That’s tribalism. I would have been just as disappointed if he had said “we’re all Democrats here.” My point… it seems (depending on who is counting) about 60% of us are at this level of spiritual development.
Reacting to a similar statement from Jesus, “love your neighbor,” an Episcopal priest friend of mine acknowledged how difficult this is by saying “I don’t really even like my neighbor!” So, she enrolled in a workshop designed to increase our capacity for perspective taking, empathy, and compassion. In other words, she took action to increase her spiritual growth. I think that is great modeling. And I also think doing loving action to our enemies will promote spiritual growth. I guess I’m just sad taking action in pursuit of spiritual growth seems to be hidden from so many of us. It’s a journey. Thanks for your voice.