The Power of Love, Matthew 5:43-48
adapted from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's sermon "Loving Your Enemies"
by Rev. Frank Schaefer, editor

Certainly these are great words, but they are also difficult words. Over the centuries, many people have argued that this is an extremely difficult command. Many would say that it just isn’t possible to put this command into practice.

I believe Jesus realized that it’s hard to love your enemies. He realized that it’s difficult to love those who seek to defeat you, those who say evil things about you. He realized that it was painfully hard, pressingly hard. But he meant those words.

We cannot dismiss this passage as an analogy—it’s not an exaggeration to get a point across. The principle of loving your enemy is a basic tenant of our Lord’s ministry. We would be well advised to take these words seriously and to actually live by them. And as we do, we will discover that more powerful words have not been spoken. These words are life-changing and if heeded, will give us peace and joy even in the midst of strife!

1. The first question we need to answer is: How do we actually love our enemies?
We need to understand that there is an element of good in every person, even in those who act like our enemy. So every time negative and hateful thoughts enter your mind toward that person, remember that there is some good about that person and look at the good in that person. For God created every one of his children in God’s own image. Everybody is beautiful in the eyes of God.

2. Secondly, we need to realize that there is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me to make both a gentleman and a rogue." There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Apostle Paul, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do."
Even within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him or her.

When you come to the point that you look in the face of every person and see deep down within him "the image of God," you begin to love them no matter what they do, because you see God’s image in their heart. There is an element of goodness that they can never cast off. Discover the element of good in your enemy and you will find a new, positive attitude of love toward them.

3. Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. That’s the time you must not do it.
Love is seeking goodwill for all people. Love is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, you seek only to defeat sin and sinful attitudes, but not the person.

And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love people, not necessarily because they are likeable to you, but because God loves them. And he or she might be the worst person you’ve ever met. But you look at that person, and you love this person because you know that God loves them.
But it’s not only necessary to know how to love your enemies, but to understand why we should love them.

1. The first reason, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus’ thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on forever. It just never ends. And that is the tragedy of the cycle of hate: it doesn’t stop! It only intensifies and leads to destruction and pain. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil. And you do that by the power of love.

2. There’s another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater.
We usually think of what hate does for the individual who is hated or the group that is hated. But it is even more tragic to the individual who hates. You begin hating somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can’t see straight when you hate. There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with hate. They come to a point of becoming a pathological case. A person who hates can meet somebody and that person can be beautiful, but the hater will call them ugly. For the person who hates, the beautiful becomes ugly and the ugly becomes beautiful. For the person who hates, the good becomes bad and the bad becomes good. For the person who hates, the truth becomes false and the false becomes truth. That’s what hate does. You can’t see right. Objectivity is lost. Long before modern psychology came into being, the world’s greatest psychologist who walked around the hills of Galilee told us to love. He looked at people and said: "Love your enemies; don’t hate anybody.” For hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater. And this is why Jesus says: Love your enemy!

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. There is a power in love that eventually transforms individuals. Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption. You just keep loving people and keep loving them, even though they’re mistreating you, even though they do you wrong.
This person may be a neighbor, or a colleague, or a family member and this person is doing something wrong to you. Just keep being friendly to that person. Keep loving them. They might react with feelings of guilt, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more during that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they may break down eventually. It’s not a guarantee, but Redemption is a possibility that your creating through love that could never come about through hate. Love is redemptive. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies!
There is a power in love that our world has not discovered yet. Jesus discovered it centuries ago. But most men and most women never discover it. For they believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; they believe in hating for hating; but Jesus comes to us and says, "That’s not the way."

And I believe with all my heart that through the power of this love that Christ is teaching us, even some people that choose to hate will be transformed. We will be able to change the world with the redemptive power of love that reaches out even to our enemies, and that blesses those that curse us.
For darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that; hatred cannot drive out hatred, only love can do that! That’s Power of Christ’s Love. Amen.