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Walking by the Sea
If I were Jesus’ therapist, there is one moment in particular that I’d love to process Read More
Andrew Wilkes | Read Luke 6:27-38
Enemies, sometimes, can be redefined as neighbors, as Jesus will teach in Luke 10. Here, in chapter 6, Luke describes what the difficult yet doable tradition of loving your enemy entails: blessing those who curse us, praying for those who abuse us, doing good without necessarily expecting the return of...
God of mercy, love, and justice, equip and empower us to embody mercy in our dealings with those whom society has trained us to see as enemies, trusting that our neighbors, siblings, fellow disciples, perhaps even ourselves, lie beneath the encrusted contempt that we have picked up along the way. Remind us that we are never more fully your children than when we embody and exhibit mercy in every direction. Amen.
The passage from Genesis and the psalm challenge us to resist the understandable yet self-destructive road of fretting and choosing revenge in our relationships. They also comfort us with the assurance that once-wounded relationships can be healed and stitched back together. The New Testament passages, interpreted together, call us to consider two topics in relation to one another: the nature and feel of the Resurrection and the identity of our enemies. Both passages suggest that embodiment matters, that our earthen vessels are neither opponents nor enemies of spiritual development. Nor are they automatic allies in spiritual growth. Instead, our embodied lives are always potential vistas for experiencing resurrection, for self-identifying our bodies as blessed, not cursed; beloved, not burdensome, through the presence of the lynched yet living Christ.
• Read Genesis 45:3-11, 15. What does repair and reconciliation look like in your current family context?
• Read Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40. What kind of faith practices—and what kind of God—could help you and your loved ones to pivot from fretting to trusting and relying on the Divine?
• Read 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50. Where do you envision resurrection occurring? What difference might it make to consider where and when resurrection happens among human beings?
• Read Luke 6:27-38. How might you love the “enemy” with renewed determination—including those portions of yourself that you may have been socialized to curse and despise?
Respond by posting a prayer.
