Luke’s paper

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Love of Enemies
Luke, the author of the passage, much like the rest of the Gospel used a tense of the Greek verb ‘Love’ that was depicted as implying a continuous abiding to the rule of action. It is one thing to love one’s friend, but a different cup of tea to love one’s enemies. Luke used some heavy words to refer to Jesus teachings on the love for enemies. The intent of the passage is not just one that is intended to hide feelings of love for the enemy through a flash o a smile or for one to mind his or her own business; rather the Christian must actively try to do good things towards their attackers. Luke used the Greek word ‘Agapao’ in ancient manuscripts, a word that has been seemingly employed in Christian text to refer to the sought of love that is difficult to conceive. Perhaps, it is a kind of love that does not serve itself, rather one that is designed to be used for the sake of others. The common Greek words that means love is ‘philos, ‘ and it was mostly confined to the love for friends and family. The Greek word is in an active voice refers to the deliberate steps that one should take to do good to the enemy.
To understand the passage, one might seek to know the meaning of the term enemies. Enemies refer to the people that hate the Christian, and not the people the Christian hate. People whose evil actions one has probably exposed, and may be involved in an active pursuit of revenge. Luke teachings indicate that Jesus wants his disciples to go out and actively seek their good.

It would be important to pursue the meaning of loving the enemy. Loving the enemy does not just imply having good thoughts on the enemy. Turning the other cheek (6:29) is a common expression that means going out of the way to avoid nasty confrontations. When one is provoked, instead of complaining or engaging in verbal assault, one should literally turn the other cheek. One should bear in mind that this part should be understood within the context of the whole passage, where Jesus is talking about the love for the enemy. The point, in this case, is that people should be in charge of their own emotions and desist from the natural human reaction of hitting back. Moreover, Possessions are not as important as love (6:30).
The teachings on love for the enemies mentioned in Luke 6: 27-36 focuses on guilt and forgiveness. Jesus was communicating to perhaps the most frustrating situations that people face: when one is hurt, then forgives, but nothing changes. The goal of forgiveness is to aid in improving the relationship, but too often one can be hurt, and then forgives the offending part, and then his or her behavior does not change. The command by Jesus in the passage to love enemies is a demand that can be difficult to practice. It is common for people who replicate the love of those who love them, but people do not love their foes. Individuals who can profess a love of enemies must have extraordinary patience and kindness, in fact, Jesus compares such a character to God’s nature (35-36). The possibility of accomplishing such a feat rests with the people who walk in the Spirit, and this is because the mind pursues revenge for those who have done ill.
The call to love the enemies is seemingly not naïve. The passage was an address to situations of conflicts. Luke does not leave any doubt that the teaching is intended to every faceted of the society, including the economic component, as he later relates a part of the passage to the lending of money (6:35). The followers of Jesus are commanded to avoid using their power in crushing people with whom they are engaged in conflict; rather they should actively engage the people for their own good. Christians must work for the good of people with whom they are in conflict, and this call on them to help opponents and commit to latter’s benefits, to the detriment of self-interests or while making the one’s own be better.
To have a better understanding of the passage, it is imperative to understand its context. It was part of the Sermon on the Mount, where He introduced the brethren to a set of foreign ideas that seemed extremely radical from information the people had been used to for a while. The teaching was intended to get the people see that is important to be morally upright than amass powers and to treat other people with the respect but should not demand things for oneself. According to Luke, Jesus said that was the nature of God, as he loves people who are bad. He loves those people who are ungrateful and wicked, hence people should be like God and love bad people too. However, Luke is not saying that people should be wicked and ungrateful to be loved by God, rather when Christians love people that do ills to them, then they shall be acting like God, and that is a good thing.