Loving your Enemy

Working my way through reading the entire Bible, I came across these two powerful verses in Exodus:

"If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure to help him with it" (23:4-5).

Jesus affirmed this very idea when he said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." He went on to ask how one acts any differently from anyone else if they simply love those who love them and hate those who hate them? Doesn't just about everyone do that?

And this is where I love the approach of Jesus and the Old Testament: If you love your enemy--if you take him back his donkey; help her with her oxen--then you are not treating them as an enemy and though they may treat you like one, you undercut their efforts. Peacemaking efforts start with treating the enemy as you would treat a friend.

Oh, sure, people will argue that you can't treat everyone as a friend and that this is dangerous and that loving the weak makes this very complex. And they are right. But the Old Testament text undercuts this escape by telling us how to act in everyday situations. On any given day you really could come across the animal of an enemy wandering off; you could come across an enemy whose load is too large for his beast. On any given day (and especially in the election season and around the holidays!), we do have people say mean things to us; we do have people overlook our kindness; we do have people treat us less than we desire to be treated... And in these situations, its best not to make them overly complex, but simply to overcome evil with good and to undercut the efforts of others to treat us as enemies.