This Gospel reading from Luke is hard in so many ways. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” I feel like this is one of the hardest things Jesus tells us, maybe second only to, “You must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow.” Or, maybe loving the people who treat us poorly is harder than picking up our crosses. It’s debatable. Another reason it feels hard is that it seems like Jesus is telling us to allow people to treat us poorly, not just to love them when they do. When people take things from us or even slap us, he says we should just give things over and even offer our other cheek. It almost seems like he’s calling us to be doormats.

When I think about Jesus and the way he was with people, though, he was not a doormat. He was kind, generous, and merciful, but he was not a wimp. He sometimes challenged gently and sometimes used cleverness, but he could also be blatantly harsh, especially with religious authorities. Ultimately, he did lay down his life, but he did so conscientiously and willingly. He didn’t just roll over and let it happen. So, given the way that he was, I think Jesus would call us to be the same way.

The heart of the matter in this reading is not just our responses to people but also our intentions. Over and over, Jesus tells us to love and be merciful, to stop judging and condemning, and to forgive. These are attitudes, internal processes behind the actions we take. We don’t act out of love and mercy because of what we’ll get in return. It’s not a Christian version of karma in which what we put out into the universe will come back to us. Although he kind of sounds like he’s giving us a cause and effect, what Jesus is really doing, I think, is calling us to be the loving, merciful, generous people God created us to be. We don’t do good to other people because they are good or because we expect good things from it. We do it because God is good, and we want to be more like God.

You know, I still get surprised when people don’t act like I think they should act. When people don’t treat me like I wish to be treated, I sometimes take it personally, even though it’s probably not about me but about them. When that happens, Jesus calls me to love and do good to those people, even if I feel offended. I think of times when, even though I’m not on the best terms with someone, or it’s someone I love who’s driving me crazy for one reason or another, when something bad happens, I still want to send them a card. Or, something good happens and I want to congratulate them. I have to really discern my intentions. If I do something nice for someone with whom I struggle, what are my expectations? Will it make them nicer to me? Probably not. Also, it’s not about giving to receive. On the other hand, if I can really dig down deep inside and open myself to God’s call, I realize that I genuinely want to do good because I want to be the kind of person who is good to people. I don’t want to return evil for evil, a reaction for a reaction, a bad mood for a bad mood. To be sure, some people make it easier to be kind than others do, but that’s not the point. I want to treat people well because of who God is and who I want to be. If I can think about it that way, and sometimes I can’t, but if I can, it’s very freeing. It moves me away from expectations and toward openness. It’s not about how they respond but how a good work sits within me.

Now, I do feel like a caveat is in order. Some of this reading is written in hyperbole, exaggerated speech intended to make a point. Jesus doesn’t really mean that we should allow people to take advantage of us or slap us around. There are people who use others and cause real harm, and Jesus is not telling us to allow that or to stay with abusers. He’s not calling us to be doormats, remember? Jesus consistently honored the dignity of each person, and allowing a bully to bully or an abuser to abuse is not honoring the dignity of ourselves or others. Jesus was fully in his power when he chose to love his enemies, and we’re called to be fully in our power when we do the same. So, we can forgive and love our enemies, but when it comes to toxic people, we need to do that from a distance with plenty of healthy boundaries in between. Jesus never shied away from challenging the abuse of power. And challenge and love are not at odds with each other. Sometimes we love by challenging.

That said, Jesus may be loving us by challenging us with this hard love-your-enemies-do-good-to-them teaching. It takes discernment – figuring out how to love people and still love ourselves, uncovering our intentions and expectations, knowing what love looks like in each particular situation. It also takes a solid relationship with God – trusting that God loves me and is with me, that there’s enough love to go around, that if I respond with love and good intentions, goodness will often come back to me – from myself and God, if not from the other person. A generous response sits a lot better within me than a mean one.

As I think about it, God is generous in responding to us. When I look at my life, the many awesome people in it, where I get to live, the work I get to do, the many, many random good things that happen in a given day, I know that’s God’s work. God gives me all this not because I’m good, but because God is. God‘s providence is abundant, overflowing, maxed out goodness dropped upon us whether we deserve it or not. And none of us really deserves it, but we all receive it. None of us is worthy, but that means each of us is worthy. We are lavishly loved and blessed. What we put out into the world may have a cause and effect dynamic, or it may not. However, the more good we do, the more we become people who do good, and the more we become magnanimous, like God is.

For Reflection:

• What resonates with you from this reading?

• What makes it hard for you to turn the other cheek, metaphorically speaking?

• What effect does a good work have on you? How does doing something good for someone else sit with you?

• How has God blessed you in your life lately? Where have you seen God’s abundant care for you?

• As you consider this reading, what’s happening in your life now, your own prayer, what’s God’s call for you in this?

If you’d like to listen to this reflection, here you go:

 By Sister Leslie Keener

Sister Leslie Keener, CDP is the director of God Space, a community-building spirituality ministry in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. She’s a Sister of Divine Providence with a Masters in Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Retreats from Creighton University. She directs retreats, meets with people for spiritual direction, and serves as the vocation director for her community. She also serves on the Coordinating Council of Spiritual Directors International. She enjoys music, dancing, and meaningful conversations.