Learning to love

Luke 6:27-31New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

On my way to church sometimes on Sunday mornings I listen to part of "On Being" with Krista Tippett on NPR.  This past Sunday, she was interviewing two Buddhist scholars (unfortunately whose names I didn't get to hear).  

One of them said something really interesting and thought provoking for me that helps me see this familiar passage and charge from Jesus in a way that makes it perhaps easier to digest.  I don't remember the exact words of the speaker, so I both paraphrase (and will take some liberties with it) here.

Love your enemies is perhaps really hard for us to wrap our minds around partially because "love" is a word that has many and varied meanings for us.  It's a verb, but it's also a noun.  It's a feeling, but it's also an action.  It's something we feel with a rush of romantic fervor when we meet our significant other, and it's the tender thunderclap to our chest when we hold our infant child for the first time.  It's feeling alive when we do something we are meant to do, and it's a state of being when we are comforted after a huge loss.

The Greeks perhaps had a better handle on it than we do, since they had (have) at least four different words for "love," and that may be partially why this charge from Jesus is so difficult sometimes to fully fathom.

In addition, according to the Buddhist scholar I heard, perhaps what might make this easier for us to grasp is if we add a step to it.  We live in a dualistic world: things are good or bad, light or dark, odd or even.  We love or we hate.

Yet God is not dualistic.  God is not either or. So maybe, as this scholar said, before the charge to love our enemies, we need to learn to simply not hate them.

If the first step is to see them as human, with their own challenges and foibles, as well as blessings and strengths, before we love them, we may begin to simply see them as like us and from there, learn to love. 

Learn first not to hate.  Then we can talk about love.

It may be semantics.  I'm not sure.  I didn't hear the whole interview and am not sure I have a fully formed conclusion about this.  But I do think that God offers us more than two options in any given situation. And I do think there is a wealth of real estate between love and hate.

I also know that Jesus himself was the primary example of love.  He came to teach us both love as a noun and love as a verb, and whether we learn to love our enemies, or simply not to hate them, we do because we have been loved first and graciously beyond measure.

Loving God, teach me your ways and show me your path to love.  Amen.