You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Matthew 5:43-44 (CSB)
People back then said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Half of that was from the Bible. Love your neighbor is real (Lev 19:18). But “hate your enemy” isn’t in the Bible at all. Someone made it up. They decided “neighbor” only meant people like them. Everyone else, they were allowed to hate.
Jesus says no. Love your enemies. Pray for the people who hurt you. That might sound impossible. So notice what kind of love He means. It’s not a warm feeling you switch on. You can’t force a feeling. This love is something you do. You want good things for them. You pray for them. You can do that even when it still hurts.
One thing has to be clear, because it matters. Loving an enemy does not mean staying where someone can keep hurting you. If someone is hurting you, getting to safety and telling someone you trust is not failing to love. Praying for a person does not mean going back into harm. Jesus is talking about a heart that will not hate. He is not telling you to stand there and be hurt.
So bring one real person to mind. Someone who actually hurt you. Jesus doesn’t say feel warm about that person. He says something harder. Say their name to God. Ask God to be good to them. We’d rather do almost anything else. But that prayer is where the hate dies.
Jesus did this first. They nailed Him to a cross, and He prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). He loved His enemies while they killed Him. And here’s the good news: we were His enemies too. While we were still against God, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). He loved His enemies all the way to the cross. We were the enemies He loved.