If you’re really honest with yourself today’s gospel reading is hard. Difficult. At first blush today’s passage seems unrealistic and unattainable.  Our world: domestic mass shootings, violence, hatred, terrorism, murderous vendettas, sexual abuses, all kinds of attacks on the innocent. Aren’t these heinous acts to be avenged? Is there no satisfaction to be attained against evil people?
 
But this is Jesus speaking: “I say this to YOU who are listening.” Jesus says for us to put aside our prejudices, and assumptions and LISTEN to him. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.”
 
In the Old Testament the right attitude is to hate evildoers, to avoid sinners, to not be touched by them, to avoid unclean things, and to love God and to love his people, that is the people of the Covenant, or in other words to love your neighbor Israelite. Others, shun them. 
 
But Jesus says something totally different.  He says to extend love to the enemy and to the persecutor. 
 
Love? Really.  In English we have our limitations over this word.  Love.  Love your enemy. You mean, be attracted to him? To fall in love with an enemy? To get emotional goosebumps when you see the person who is out to harm you? To get all goo-goo-eyed?
 
Jesus is not telling us to be in love with our enemy. He isn’t even telling us to like them.  NO!
 
In the original Greek, Jesus uses the word, Agape. The word signifies a special kind of love. It is not love in the romantic sense, and it’s not love one feels for a good friend.  It is not love one has for a parent, for a child, for a relative. 
 
Rather Agape is an attitude toward others, a positive attitude that wishes only for their well being.  Agape is a one sided love that does not expect return and is given freely with no strings attached.  God has Agape love for you and me.  God wants only the best for us, wishes only for our well being in every way.  And this love of God for us is sometimes rejected, refused, not returned.  But that doesn’t stop God from extending his love to us.  And Jesus tells us this is the love we must have for everyone, everywhere, for Jew for Gentile, for sinners, for persecutors.  Jesus prayed in Agape for his crucifiers, for the person who whipped him mercilessly, the love he had for Pilate and for those who screamed for his execution. 
 
A true Christian should have no enemies.  We should have no hate and have no wish for harm to anyone. Period.  But indeed there are people out there who want to harm us, to hurt us, to lie about us, to wish we would lose our jobs, who wish for our failure.  You may know some of them.  Some might be co workers, might even be family. 
 
So we face a choice. We can take revenge on them.  We can try to harm them before they harm us.  Or we can readjust our focus so that it isn’t so much on ourselves and our needs, but on others.  That is a God kind of love: to focus on needs of others and even ask why are they hating so much, why do they want to do harm. What hurts inside them that leads them to evil acts?
 
Even this kind of thought process about others is the beginning of a spiritual journey of Agape where we CARE for our so called enemy, and where our care becomes the love that Jesus says we must have, because it is the love of the Father for everyone of us. 
 
This kind of love will bring peace to your life.  And make it contagious! Agape love must know no bounds and must infect us all, from here in our little corner to the far reaches of the world.  That was Jesus’ instructions to his first Twelve who lead the early Church: to spread his Gospel of Good News of love for all by all. In our Agape love way, it is incumbent on us to do all we can to put an end to hatred and retaliation.  
 
It isn’t easy.  This kind of love can be painful. But there must be a willingness to do whatever it takes to do good to others, not harm, to bring justice, not travesty, to bring peace and not violence and war.  To do this is to see things Jesus’ way, not our way. 
 
It is more than will power to make this happen.  It takes prayer for right attitude.  Prayer for others, to treat them not as they deserve but as how God wishes them to be treated: with mercy, with kindness and with respect in that they are God’s living creation.  God loves the just.  He loves the unjust.  He embraces saint. He embraces sinner.  So we must love the grateful and the ungrateful. 
 
We extend the grace of God to others. God’s love conquers all. God’s Agape, through his own Son’s Cross brings and end to our hurts, to our fears and frees us all from malice, hatreds and resentments toward others.  It is this Agape that we in turn must share everyday in every way by extending the mercy, the love, the healing of God to others. 
 
 
His love conquers all, even our hurts, fears, prejudices and griefs.  Only the cross of Jesus Christ can free us from the tyranny of malice, hatred, revenge, and resentment and gives us the courage to return evil with good.  Such love and grace has power to heal and to save us from destruction.  Do you believe in the power of Christ's redeeming love and mercy? You are a part of his power.  It is thorough you that Christ renews, redeems, and forgives and if that is to happen then it is you who must forgive your enemies, it is you who must pray for the well being of every person and work toward that end without ceasing.