There are people I don’t want to pray for.
People who have hurt me or treated me with disrespect. People who have mistreated people I care about. People I don’t know but have made their way onto to the public scene with horrible actions that have hurt people or injured the world as a whole.
However, much to my irritation, Jesus calls us to love our enemies. He asks us to bless those who curse and to pray for those who mistreat us. He tells us to act toward other people like we’d like them to act toward us. Seems simple, but it really is not. Loving people who treat us badly is one of the most difficult things we can be asked to do. And that is exactly what Jesus asks.
Let me make one thing clear, though. While Jesus calls us to love and do good to those who treat us poorly, we are NOT called to accept abuse or violence in his name, or to continue in relationship with people who mistreat us. This passage and others like it have been misused through the centuries to mistakenly suggest that the call to love our enemies is greater than the call to care for our own safety – which it is not.
Every time I let myself really think about Jesus’ call to love our enemies, to do good to people who hate us, to pray for those who mistreat us, I realize that I am battling the angry impulse to reject and dehumanize these people. In my judgement and condemnation, I am tempted to forget that they are struggling and imperfect humans who are children of God. God’s love does not erase the consequences of their actions for them or the people they harm, yet God has not abandoned them. God does not abandon any of us. Not even our enemies.
Peace,