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Nov 25, 2025 18:00pm

Walking Through Luke: Love Your Enemies

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It feels good to be loved, doesn’t it?
When someone cares about you and shows it by treating you kindly, being there for you, and spending time with you, it makes you feel happy. There’s a certain warmth that comes from being treated like you matter.

It doesn’t feel quite so good when you are treated dismissively or hatefully. That can take any happiness you have and crush it down to powder. If someone treats you like you don’t matter, it can make you feel small. You don’t want to be around them because they treat you in a way that doesn’t make you feel good. Or perhaps you try to work harder to make them see that you are worth loving. Either way, it’s not a good feeling.

It’s easier to love someone who loves you back. Because they act as though they enjoy your company, spending time with them becomes easy. It makes it easy to do nice things for them in return. On the other hand, if they treat you poorly, it’s hard to want to love them back. You might prefer to keep your distance from them or even resent them in return. What goes around comes around, right? That’s how we’re socialized to behave. If someone treats you badly, you either get out of there or you get even.

That was how society functioned in Jesus’ day as well. Even though the law said to “love your neighbor as yourself,” the common practice was to love anyone who loved you, and treat anyone else like mud. Outsiders, enemies, sinners… If they weren’t “your people,” it was totally okay to walk all over them. At least, that’s how the religious leaders were behaving. Jesus had a different take on it.

In Luke 6:27, Jesus made a radical statement: “Love your enemy.” I think it’s important to remember that “love” in the Bible isn’t talking about emotions or feelings. It’s an action word. You do “love” by showing kindness and friendship. So it’s not about how you feel about someone; it’s about how you treat them. You may not like a person at all, but you can still love them—by showing them the same kind of kindness God would show us.

He taught that when someone mistreats you, you should not seek vengeance but respond with meekness. (This does not mean remaining in an abusive relationship; if you’re in danger, it is completely justifiable to leave. Instead, Jesus was urging His listeners to respond with meekness and gentleness, not escalating violence or angry words.) If someone takes something from you unjustly, you should have a generous heart and give them even more. This could be literal, but at times it could just mean not trying to get even or worry about getting back what’s been taken. Let it go. Don’t let anger rule your heart. Instead, be willing to release whatever they have taken from you and, if the opportunity arises, give them even more. Jesus used the example of a coat, which soldiers traveling through the land often took. Jesus said, “let them have your tunic, too” (Luke 6:29).

Loving your enemy isn’t easy. When someone consistently bullies you, belittles you, or takes from you, it’s easy to want payback. But Jesus said to take the higher road. After all, that’s what He did. His enemies beat Him, mocked Him, and killed Him. But He never tried to fight back; instead, He gave up His life without a fight so that, in death, He could break the shackles of sin and death—even the sin of the people killing Him.

If He could do that, can we not overlook the way our enemies mistreat us? We don’t have to strike up friendships with them, but we should love them. Take the high road: ask God for help and let Him work out the details. If someone needs to be repaid for a wrong action, God will be the one to repay it. By forgiving those who wrong us and loving them, we release the grip that anger and unforgiveness have on our hearts. We free ourselves from a prison we lock ourselves in. And we honor God as “sons of the Most High” (Luke 6:35), and our reward will be great.