Rev. dawn b. young, Ed.D.
One of my favorite movies of all time is “Shenandoah” with Jimmy Stewart as the patriarch of the Anderson clan. And my favorite scene is when Doug McClure comes to Stewart to ask for Jennie’s hand in marriage. “Do you like her?” “Mr. Anderson I love her.” “There’s a difference between lovin’ someone and likin’ em.” Stewart goes on to explain how he liked his wife and suddenly it dawned upon him one day that he loved her.
As Christians, we are commanded to love our neighbor, that includes those we love, those we like and interestingly enough those that we don’t like or love. We have the great opportunity to love our enemies. How am I supposed to do that? Today’s reading points out the significance of this “enemy-love” when we consider the big enemies in the world today. It might not be all that problematic for me to say I pray for and love bin Laden or Ghadfi. Really chances are very small that I will ever have to interact with those fellows. But enemy love becomes very real when it has to be focused on those in my life that have caused and may continue to cause me harm.
The story of the Good Samaritan is one of our best examples of loving our neighbor. But we need to remember for the Jew on the side of the road, beaten, battered and bruised, the last thing he would have wanted, and probably imagined, was a Samaritan stopping to help him. For that story to make sense to us (me) today, we (I) am the one laying on the road in need of help, and the one that comes to our (my) aid is the one we (I) least would want to receive it from. Who would that be for you?
How does that change your enemy love?
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