Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.
Happy Sunday! I hope you get a chance to gather together with God’s people in a church this first Sunday of the year.
Today’s readings are from Genesis 15-17 and Matthew 5:27-48. Have a read of the passages for yourself, and then come back here for a short reflection on Matthew 5.
Welcome back. Matthew 5 is part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount where he shows his followers what it is like to be part of His kingdom. His call for them is to be countercultural as they are to be different from those around them.
In Matthew 5 you will notice that Jesus has 6 sets of opposing statements. “You have heard that it was said…. But I say to you…”
Jesus is not contradicting scripture, but rather he is speaking out against the distortion of scripture from the religious authorities in his day.
I want to focus on the final paragraph from verse 43 on loving our enemies.
[43] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ [44] But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, [45] so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [46] For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? [47] And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? [48] You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (ESV)
The following are some reflections on this paragraph from one of my favourite devotional guides, “Through the Bible Through the Year” by John Stott.
“The scribes’ quotation was a scandalous perversion of Scripture, for it added to the command to love our neighbor a corresponding command to hate our enemy, which is not in the Old Testament text. The teachers of the law asked themselves who their neighbor was whom they were obliged to love. Why, of course, they replied to themselves, their neighbor was their kith and kin in race and religion. So if they were required to love only their neighbor, it was tantamount to giving them permission to hate their enemy. But Jesus roundly condemned this casuistry. Our neighbor in the vocabulary of God, he insisted, includes our enemy.
If we love only those who love us, we are no better than unbelievers. If we love our enemies, however, it will be apparent that we are children of our heavenly Father, since his love is indiscriminate, giving rain and sunshine to all people alike. Alfred Plummer summed up the options: “To return evil for good is devilish. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is divine.”
[Excerpt From: John Stott. “Through the Bible Through the Year.”]
Until tomorrow, keep trusting Jesus.