Loving our enemies (even the evil empire)

Kia ora whānau,

This week we looked at two passages, Jonah 3 and Matthew 22:34-46. In the Gospel passage the religious leaders were trying to trap Jesus by asking difficult questions. One of the questions was “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered by saying that we must love God and love people. In Jonah 3 we see a picture of God loving Jonah’s enemies. He sent Jonah to give a message of judgment with the intent that Nineveh would repent and receive divine mercy.

In Matthew we are given a direction, a goal to aim for. We’re challenged to aim for love. When we love God it’s displayed as loving people, even our enemies. It’s shown as obeying God’s command and reorganizing our lives around Jesus.

On the page of my sermon notes, my 6-year old has drawn a picture of a rocket ship flying in space toward the planet Saturn. The rocket is huge while the planet is relatively small. As a budding artist, she probably isn’t aware that the sizes are demonstrating a vast distance between the two, but she pointedly drew the rocket aimed at the planet. If we are rockets in this journey, are we aimed at love? It takes a lot of little calculations to reach a far off destination. In the same way, we need an awareness that our multitudes of decisions either point us toward loving God and people, and caring for the beauty of God’s creation, or our choices point us in a direction away from that love and care.

The Ninevites were an evil empire, and God did not ignore their wickedness. The people of Nineveh had a revelation when God’s truth was spoken to them. They responded with repentance and allowed God, in His mercy, to put them back on the course for which they were created. God’s plan of love is always available to us, even those of us living in an evil empire. This is our hope and our challenge. What is one thing, however small, each of us can do to realign ourselves with God’s plan for restoration and reconnection?

In Christ,

Wendy