Lenten Meditation: Saturday, March 4, 2023
Matthew 5:43-48
“What I tell you is this: Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors.” -Matthew 5:44
Jesus regularly instructs us to open our hearts and minds in challenging ways. To forgive others as we have been forgiven, to love our enemies and pray for people who try to harm us… these are the commandments that feel both familiar and impossible (at least some of the time). If you really want to feel rattled, here’s something else to consider: God loves the people we dislike just as much as he loves us. I think that’s why Jesus uses the image of the sun rising and the rain falling, so that we can see ourselves in the context of a larger world and a God who shows no partiality.
Though this instruction to pray for our enemies can feel intolerable, I believe Jesus is actually trying to comfort us. The difficulties and pains of human relationships can weigh heavily on us. Grudges, hurt, fear, anger; these are things that can wound us just as much as the people we bear them toward. So when we bring all this to God in prayer, a lot can happen. We can recognize that God is our companion, he knows the way we feel, our hurt will not be forgotten or brushed aside. At the same time, we get to put the heavy weight down, we don’t have to carry our pain any farther. Judgment belongs to God, not us, and that is a relief. Through praying for others and learning to love others, God brings us to deeper spiritual health and wholeness.
Today: Spend some time thinking about what you might not like to think about: people who make you feel hurt and angry. It could be an individual from your own life, or a group of people whose views you strongly disagree with. Pray for them.