Is there anything you don’t like about Jesus?
When asking this question to our youth or to our eldest of members, when asking Jesus’ most committed of disciples to those who still on the fence, when asking a more traditional style of worshipper or a more contemporary style of worshipper, there seems to be a similar reoccurring answer.
Is there anything you don’t like about Jesus? Yeah, he tells us to love our enemies!
I get it. Because if we’re being honest, this is one of Jesus’ hardest teachings: loving our enemies.
Because Jesus isn’t just talking about the people who frustrate us. He’s not just saying, “Love the person who cut you off in traffic” or “Love the neighbor who doesn’t shovel their sidewalk.” No, Jesus is speaking to people who have been deeply harmed. People who know what it is to suffer under systems of injustice. People who have been insulted, humiliated, and oppressed.
It’s to them, Jesus says: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.
And if we’re looking at the state of our country and our world right now; we’re feeling exhausted. We are a community that cares deeply about people. We stand with the marginalized. We speak up for the voiceless. And yet, in times like these, it feels like no matter how much we do, the forces of hatred and fear keep pushing back. I know many of us are struggling right now.
And so it’s also to us, Jesus says: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.
And that’s where this teaching starts to feel impossible. Because when we’ve been wounded, when we see injustice running rampant in the world, when we feel overwhelmed by the hatred and division that seem to define our time, love is not our first instinct. We want justice. We want things to be made right. And sometimes, if we’re honest, we just want to see our enemies fall.
So what do we do with this command? What does it really mean to love our enemies in a world that feels so broken?
And I don’t need to define who your enemies are for you. As a member of the LGTBQIA+ community, I have my people who have harmed me and continue to harm people like me in this country and world. I’m confident you have people who have harmed you. While our “enemies” may differ, the ways in which we are called to love them remains the same. So let’s talk about that.
The love we’re exploring today isn’t some passive type of love. It sure isn’t weak. In fact, it’s the most powerful force in the world as it’s the same love that God has for humankind.
The Gospel of Luke, like most other books in the Newer Testament, was written in koine Greek, or Common Greek; Greek that used at the time when Christ came to us as the Word made flesh. While the word “love” in English can describe many different types of relationship, each type of love had a different word in Greek. We know of at least four that were used during Christ’s time on earth.
First, there is Eros: a romantic, passionate love between two spouses.
Second, we hear of Storge: a familial type of love between parents, siblings, children, etc.
Third, there is Philia: the type of warm, affectionate love between friends with shared values and mutual respect. Think of Philadelphia, which translates to “the city of brotherly love”. An example of is when Mary and Martha send a message to Jesus letting him know: “Lord, he whom you love, your friend!, is ill.”
And fourth, there is Agape: unconditional, selfless love that extends beyond oneself. Agape is used over 100 times in the Newer Testament, most often used to describe God’s love for us… but also the love we should have for God and neighbor… and enemy.
“Do you want to take a guess what kind of love we are called to practice with our enemy? Eros, Storge, Philia, or Agape?… It’s Agape.”
Here is why this distinction of love is important. When Jesus is telling us to love our enemies, it is not romantic, familial, or even warm and affectionate between two friends. Love is not always friendly! But the love we have for our enemies is selfless.
What do we mean by that? This isn’t a sentimental type of love. It’s not the kind of love that ignores injustice or pretends that harm hasn’t been done. It’s not about keeping the peace at all costs or tolerating abuse. The love Jesus commands is something far more disruptive than that.
This love – this agape love, this selfless love that disrupts – is also the love Paul is describing in 1 Corinthians 13. I’m sure we’ve all heard this passage before, “Love is patient; love is kind…” and so on.
We often hear this passage at weddings, and while it can speak to the love shared between two people, Paul wasn’t writing about eros romantic love. He was writing about agape love to a divided church. A church where people were fighting for power, where some felt superior to others, where resentment and self-interest were tearing the community apart. Those who were already oppressed were the greatest recipients of the further harm being done.
So Paul encourages them to practice a love that is patient in the face of hostility, a love that is kind even when kindness is not returned, a love that does not dishonor others, even when others have dishonored them, a love that does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth, standing firm against injustice while refusing to return hate for hate, and a love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
This is not a love that ignores oppression. It is a love that refuses to let oppression define us.
And that brings us back to Jesus’ command. Because when he tells us to love our enemies, he is not telling us to accept injustice. He is telling us to refuse to let injustice turn us into people of hate.
Jesus is calling his followers to love in a way that refuses to play by the world’s rules. The world teaches us that when someone hurts us, we hurt them back. When someone curses us, we curse them in return. When someone takes from us, we take from them. We see this cycle of retribution everywhere—on the world stage, in our communities, even in our personal relationships.
But Jesus looks at that cycle of hate and says, No more.
Look at the examples Jesus gives:
- If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. This isn’t about being passive—it’s about reclaiming dignity. In Jesus’ time, a slap wasn’t just an act of violence; it was an act of humiliation. To turn the other cheek is to refuse to be humiliated—it forces the oppressor to see you as an equal.
- If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt. Again, this isn’t about rolling over—it’s about exposing the injustice. Imagine someone in court suing you for your coat, and instead of fighting back, you hand them your shirt, standing there with nothing left. It makes their greed and cruelty undeniable.
- Give to everyone who asks of you. Do to others as you would have them do to you. This kind of generosity goes beyond what is fair. It reflects a world that is shaped not by power and control, but by God’s abundance.
Jesus isn’t saying, “Let people walk all over you.” He’s saying, “Do not let their hatred define you. Do not let them dictate the terms of your response.” That’s what makes this love so radical. It is not passive: it is active resistance against the forces of hate and fear. It is a love that refuses to play by the enemy’s rules.
And that’s where it gets personal for us. Because we live in a time where hate is loud. Where fear is being used as a weapon. Where injustice is being justified in the name of power. And we, as disciples of Christ in the world today, have to decide: Will we respond in the way the world expects us to? Or will we disrupt the cycle?
I believe, in my heart of hearts, we will live out a love that disrupts.
It will challenge the world’s way of doing things. It will force people to see the humanity even in those they have dehumanized. It will break the cycles of fear and hate.
This love means speaking truth—but doing so without cruelty. It means standing firm—but doing so without losing our compassion. It means confronting injustice—but doing so in a way that offers an alternative, rather than just another version of the same broken system.
And that’s what makes it so hard. Because loving like this is costly. It requires something of us. It means choosing a different way when the world gives us every reason to lash out. But Jesus never said it would be easy; only that it would be worth it. A world filled with more agape love will be worth it.
First Presbyterian Church of Allentown is called to embody this love. We are a community that welcomes the outsider, that refuses to demonize, that works for justice not out of bitterness but out of a deep and abiding love for all of God’s children. Because when we live this way—when we love this way—we disrupt the patterns of the world. We refuse to let hate and fear have the final word. And in doing so, we bear witness to a kin-dom that is not built on power or revenge, but on the radical, transformative love of Christ.
Because here’s the truth: people are watching.
In an age of division, people are watching to see how those who are hurt respond. In a time of fear, people are watching to see if we will choose courage. In a culture of retaliation, people are watching to see if we will love differently.
So what will we show them?
Will we mirror the hatred that surrounds us, or will we disrupt it?
Will we let fear dictate our actions, or will we trust that love is still the most powerful force in the world?
Will we be a people who love boldly, courageously, prophetically; people who refuse to let the world’s brokenness dictate our response?
That is the challenge before us. That is the call of Christ.
When we live this way – when we love this way – we don’t just endure the world as it is. We help transform it.
This is the love that heals wounds. This is the love that builds bridges. This is the love that brings the kin-dom of God near.
So may we go from this place ready to love—not with a love that is weak or easy, but with a love that disrupts, that challenges, that refuses to let hate and fear have the final word.
May we love in a way that changes hearts, changes communities, and, by the grace of God, even changes the world.
Amen.
