The Most Radical Words

 

Last weekend I read a short book of letters that one man wrote to his nephew about Jesus. The man was a priest and his nephew was finishing high school and so the man wrote a series of letters to give some spiritual guidance to his nephew, particularly about Jesus. 

I thought the book was so-so. I’m not Roman Catholic and the things that he said that specifically connected to that tradition did not really speak to me. But he did write one thing that very definitely caught my attention. He told his nephew that “The most radical words in the gospel are “Love your enemy.”” 

If we think of someone as an enemy then we have some very strong and persistent feelings towards them. And none of those feelings are positive. Enemies? The things that come to mind are words like contempt, antipathy and hatred. Their downfall, or even destruction, would be a source of gladness as we hear of it. 

Love them? Love my enemies? I think not. However, if we did love them, that would indeed be a radical thing, and Jesus calls on his followers to do just that thing. In Matthew 5:44 he says:

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

I’ll agree that to love one’s enemies is a very radical thing to do, and in our day of strongly held opinions, freely and widely shared on social media, it seems very easy to find people whom we might consider as enemies. But I believe Jesus says something much more profound, much more radical, and much more powerful, when in Luke 7:48 he speaks to a woman and says: 

“Your sins are forgiven.” 

Rather than giving godly guidance on how to treat people we disagree with these words get to the heart of the human condition, and its only possible resolution. 

All humans, from the ones you admire the most on the one hand, to the ones whom you want nothing to do with on the other hand, and including the person staring back at you in the mirror, are sinners against a holy God. Sinners who have no hope save this one thing: To turn from their sin and have faith in Jesus as their savior.

If you turn to Luke and read the whole story he doesn’t tell us much about the woman, except that the people who are with Jesus at the time don’t have a very high opinion of her. And she herself never says a word, but shows the love that she has for Jesus through her actions. Jesus, knowing that her sins are many, declares her forgiveness.

Luke doesn’t tell us much about the woman. Did she understand that her sins, all of them, were ultimately offenses against God? Did she have any clue that her sins were direct offenses against the very man to whom she is showing such devotion?

Loving my enemies the way that Jesus would have me do it is a good thing, but to attempt to do that before having my own sin dealt with would be to put the cart before the horse. I need my sin forgiven and Jesus very freely does that, for me and for all who come in faith to Him. Turn to him and hear him speak, to you, the radical words of true freedom, “Your sins are forgiven.”

 

 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.