A talk given on February 11, 2024, featured in The Braided Way Magazine.
For much of my life, a lot of what Jesus said made zero sense to me.
Don’t get me wrong, I believed it—I knew you were supposed to believe it—but did I understand it? Not really. I just kind of assumed everybody else knew something I didn’t, or maybe that you were just supposed to give it your best shot and let the pieces fall where they would.
Let’s take some of his greatest hits:
“If your right eye causes you to lust, pluck it out and throw it away. For it’s better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna.”
Matthew 5:29
Yeah, try telling that to my thirteen-year-old self.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple…”
Luke 14:26
Would you believe they never asked us to memorize that one in Sunday School?
“Judge not, or you too will be judged…”
Matthew 7:1
This was especially baffling because it seemed to me like judgment was pretty much what this whole thing was about.
And then, there was the big one:
“You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:43-45
In other words, what I heard was that one must only grit their teeth, stop hating their enemies, and love them. Easy peasy.
I’m exaggerating, of course. I’ve since gotten enough backstory to appreciate these sayings for what they are—and they’re brilliant—but I think this last one is still difficult to understand. Love your enemies. It’s not the idea of loving our enemies we reject—the idea makes sense. We can get on board with the idea that love heals, and hate corrupts—with the idea that there’s more freedom when we love than when we hate…
We run into problems, however, with the execution…