Check the codex, Jesus couldn't have meant what this says . . .

It is a tough time to be a follower of Jesus.

Or at least it should be.

Not because Jesus has been taken out of schools.  Or because health insurance premiums may cover the cost of birth control pills.  Or because the ten commandments are sometimes kept off of public walls.  Lord, haven't we suffered enough?

Jesus makes it truly tough to be a follower, especially this week. If we decide to really follow Him.

We act like the gospels are written in some kind of mysterious code.  That the words of Jesus are some kind of puzzle worthy of the Da Vinci code.  But mostly they are not. Like the irreverent American theologian Mark Twain observed:

"It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts I do understand."

Jesus spoke very clearly.  This is not a paraphrase. It is right out of the New International Version of the Bible, Matthew 5: 43-48:

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[i] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

It is not okay to hate.  Ever.  For any reason.

But worse than that, we are not called simply to  refrain from hating, to be satisfied with a tortured, yet civil ambivalence, sort of like an Auburn or Alabama fan who unconvincingly mutters that he or she supports the other team when it plays anybody else.

No.  We face the ridiculous, illogical command using action verbs. Love.  Pray.

For our enemies.  For the ones who hate us. For those who persecute us.

This is Jesus' only instruction on how to deal with  enemies.

Do we have the nerve to suggest that Jesus does not know what it means to be hated? To be persecuted?  That He simply does not understand the evil that He is asking  us to endure . . . no, to love?  Surely He didn't mean that we should love the ones who kill us?  Surely He doesn't understand what that feels like. 

Really?

One of the killers is dead.  The other will receive the best justice our government is capable of delivering.   It is not perfect.  But our rule of law is a remarkable thing. His life is over, one way or the other.

But that is how our earthly enemy's fate will be determined.

The question, far more important for the rest of us, is what our fate will be.

Will we indulge our worldly appetite for hate? For revenge?  It is a sweet, all you can eat buffet.

It is part of the great deception. 

Our hate will do no further harm to our enemies.  In fact, it sometimes gives them satisfaction. Justification.

But it will destroy us.  And haven't we suffered enough destruction?

So we must love, even the brothers Tsarnaev.  And each other. And all the others.

It is the only thing that will make the difference we long for.

And that is really, really tough.

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