Jesus' “closing campaign argument”

I’m currently in Physical Therapy following a hip replacement. Physical therapy is awesome and awful all at the same time. I love my therapist, Anne, but I have a love/hate relationship with PT. It’s hard! Earlier this week, I was doing an exercise in which my therapist wanted me to get up from a seated position with one leg. “I want you to raise your left leg off the floor and push up using your right leg to get to a standing position,” Anne said. Had she lost her mind?!! There was no way I could do that! “Hold my hands,” she said. “I’ll help you.” I squeezed Anne’s hands tightly as I pushed off as hard as I could onto my right leg to a standing position. I am not going to lie. I felt pretty proud of myself for this remarkable accomplishment. “That’s great,” Anne said. “Now I want you to do it on your left leg.” Ugh. As hard as it was to stand with my right leg, I wasn’t in PT because of my right hip. I had surgery on my left hip. Let me just tell you, it was going to take a lot more support than just holding onto Anne’s hands to get me to stand on my left leg. She brought my stool over to some long straps that were affixed to a beam on the ceiling. With the help of those straps, I was finally able to pull myself up on my left leg. It was extremely hard. I didn’t like it, but I know I’ll be stronger for it.

As Christians, we’re often asked to do difficult things. We’re taught to love others. Loving others is hard! To love well takes thought, intention, and energy. I know I often fail, but I try to show respect, gratitude, and kindness to those in my life. When I’m at my best, I go out of my way to help, to appreciate, or to lift others up. But even if I adore the other person, that can sometimes wipe me out. I don’t know if you can relate. Maybe the act of loving comes naturally to you.

But the issue is that as hard as it can be to love those who we actually like, our faith calls us to go far beyond that. Jesus called us to love our enemies. Our enemies! I have a similar sentiment towards Jesus as I did towards my therapist. Has Jesus lost his mind?!! There’s no way I can do that! Love my enemies?! What in the world, Jesus? Have you seen my enemies?

Truth be told, I’m terrible at loving my enemies. It does not come naturally to me. Left on my own, I don’t know that I can do it. The good news is that we’re not asked to do it on our own. I think Jesus understands that loving our enemies is extremely difficult. He’s not oblivious to this, but he’s here to help. We may not have the power to love our enemies, but we don’t have to rely on our power alone to do so. I’ve sometimes prayed, “I know you want me to love this person, but I really, really don’t want to. If you want me to love them, you’re going to have to help me.” And you know what? He does. He’s there to hold our hands, to lift us up as we muster up the courage and energy to love those we don’t like. I’m not saying that it’s easy. Certainly not. Loving our enemies is extremely hard. But in the end, I know we’ll be stronger for it.