“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus teaches from the Law and the Prophets, the authorized scriptures of his time. And then he contradicts it. “But I tell you, love your enemies.” That’s in direct contradiction to what the old scriptures said, “Hate your enemy.” Jesus teaches us to love our enemies and “pray for those who persecute you.”
But what I find interesting is why: “that you may be sons of your Father in the heavens” (literally from the original Greek). Jesus teaches we are to be a child of God, like him. He teaches us to live the way of the heavens by loving everyone – even our enemies – so that we may be children of God.
Jesus does not imply that those who do not love unconditionally are not of God. He very specifically says that we are to love everyone, not judge them. To separate out those who do not love is judging them.
But Jesus says that God sends the sun and the rain upon the good and the evil, without judgement; so, we are to do the same, love everyone without distinction.
Be mature as the heavenly Father is mature. “Perfect” is the interpretation, but the literal Greek word that is used here is “mature.” I like it better because it implies that we’re to grow up into loving everyone. The Father is already doing that. We get time to grow into it.
Now, don’t try to explain this away. It’s too easy to say to yourself, “Well, I can’t love everybody all the time. I’m only human.” Many people self-justify this way. But Jesus doesn’t teach that. He offers no hedging or ways to opt out. It’s all or nothing. Jesus is a love extremist.