Sons
“love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; in order that you may be sons of you Father” Matthew 5:44-45
Sons – Why does Yeshua ask us to sacrifice ourselves for those who hate us or pray for those who seek to harm us? Did you think he was promoting a “higher” morality? Was he advocating a global ethical standard? Not likely! Jesus had only one thing in mind: to reflect who God is.
Reflecting God’s character is the passion of Jesus’ life. From the moment he arrived, his objective was to show us the Father. Every action he took, every word he said was designed to bring about that end. If human beings were unable to see the heart of God in the fire on Mount Sinai, then maybe they would see the God who pursued them in the life of His son. So, the “ethics” of Jesus is not really a set of ethical rules at all. It is really a demonstration in human form of what God is like.
Sons are reflections of their fathers. They learn about life by watching and copying. They take on the same attitudes, the same actions, the same visions and goals as the men who raised them. It is God’s plan that fathers serve Him with such devotion and energy that their sons see the heart of God in the lives of their dads. God’s believes that the most effective teaching tool is the gospel written in my life. But the reality is that we fathers often do a very bad job of showing our sons who God is through our lives. So Jesus reminds us: your actions reflect your lineage. If you want to be a son of the Father, reflect what the Father does.
And God loves His enemies and prays for those who persecute Him. God sacrifices Himself for those who hate Him and He seeks the well-being of those who wish Him harm. Do you want to see this in action? Read the account of Jesus on the cross. “Father, forgive them”. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Yes, the Son does reflect the heart of the Father.
Who is your enemy today? Who wishes you harm or hates you? Have you made a list? What will you do today that will reflect the heart of the Father and make you a son?
Skip or anyone wishing to comment: How do we reconcile this statement of Yeshua’s (and our interpretation of it) with YHWH telling Israel to annihilate their enemies (i.e. the wicked)? Even a commandment to wipe out the entire race of Amalekites and because Saul didn’t follow through he is rejecting as King..?
If we decide to hold God to our moral standard, don’t we act as “gods” ourselves? The biblical view is that whatever God does is good, even if we do not understand the action, because God defines good, not us. If God decides to eradicate evil and that requires removing an entire people then that is good, by definition. Only when we allow our own views of right and wrong to become the basis of ethical behavior do we create the problem of a “good” God doing what we consider evil acts.
I have probably written about this somewhere. Try searching “evil” on the home page or maybe a verse reference that you have in mind.
Skip, I regret getting to read / comment on the “Love your enemies” TW a day late as I would have like to have opened “a can of worms” discussion on a relevant corner of this theme.
My thanks to David F for his comments too as they provoked me to write this reply!
I am short on time so I will have to be briefer than I want to be but I think you will get me drift.
A major issue for me in the Messianic communities at large is most everyone’s rabid support for the State of Israel and the IDF. The many atrocities committed by the IDF in the most recent war again brought the point home to me again. Some of these atrocities were openly discussed on Israeli TV.
I do not see in Scripture where God gave the Jews the “right” to come into Palestine in the 1930’s and the 1940’s and using terrorist tactics drive the British out, and then run 700,000 Palestinians off THE LAND without recompense. Many had legal deeds to their properties. Did God give Manachem Begin and the right to use terrorism? I think not – otherwise Hamas and Hezbollah and every other creepy group can claim that they are just as legit as IRGUN?
I am not able to go any deeper into this age old complex issue here. What bothers me is this lack of discernment in taking a moral and ethical and Godly stand on the Palestinian issue. As I see it they are not “lesser children of a lesser God”, as someone put it. There is a significant Christian minority among them. For the most part they seem to me to be the descendants of Esau – the half brother of Jacob. And mostly, it is wise not to be taking sides in family disputes. This problem will not be resolved until Messiah comes!
Here is my main gripe. Messianic groups are by name supposed to be followers of Messiah and are to have His mindset. He did not partake on the party politics of His time and we all know that there was plenty of it going on.
I thought we are called out of the garbage of this world and its carnal corrupt politics. I find many Messianic s agree with that statement with one exception: the State of Israel. Somehow “Israel” is above scrutiny and the expectation of ethical behavior. I ask – what if God called a Palestinian family and they showed up some Shabbat at a Messianic worship service while the rabbi / pastor was giving one of his pro Israel propaganda messages?
Do not tell me that it could not happen. The Father has done stranger things!
This is a major problem for all Messianic groups to get right. It is a conscience problem for me personally, to the extent that I have chosen to distance myself somewhat from my local fellowship. While Messianic teachers continue to “act as God” I will fee uncomfortable.
Please show me where my thinking needs adjustment?
Hi John,
I guess I’m a little perplexed. If, as you say, the IDF and Israel are just another form of terrorists (not condoning ANY form of terrorism), what does that have to do with the proper exegesis of Scripture? Are we to determine the meaning of the text on the basis of WHO supports it? I think not. And I think Jeremiah would agree. What God says usually cuts right across ALL politics and nation-states. I’m not sure why you would reject Messianic thinking regarding the Jewish Messiah and the meaning of the texts simply because Messianics (some, maybe) are mistaken (in your view) about Israel.
Hi Skip, thanks for your response. Pierann and I have been out of town for the last several days and it is only now that I am catching up on my mail etc.,
I am almost flattered that I could cause the great Dr Skip Moen to be “a little perplexed”! :-)) Skip,there is no need to have any worries or perplexities about me – I am not leaving the Messianic community or anything like that. I am just moving my chair to a new group just forming in my area here in N California that was already in the works before I made a move! And I just took the opportunity at saying goodbye to express my feelings about the moral irrationality of supporting the State of Israel. Though obviously a minority, there are plenty of Jews and even rabbis who share my viewpoint. One such rabbi is the well known Henry Siegman. For what it is worth, I noticed a news clip this past weekend on an orthodox rabbi totally dismissing the State of Israel because he contends that God has not yet given the Jews a mandate to return to THE LAND. And I agree with him up to a point. That rabbi understands about what you said above about peoples proclivity to “play God”.
My affection for many things Jewish and the wisdom of the rabbis is still strong! Pierann and I were in Santa Cruz to attend a funeral on Friday and stayed over for Shabbat and attended a lovely Reformed synagogue with an old friend who attends there. We had a most meaningful service and conversation afterwards. During her services remarks, one of the rabbis requested prayers for those living in Gaza. She remarked that thousands are now without homes and will need a lot of aid with colder weather approaching! She brought joy to my heart> I made a point of shaking that rabbis hand afterwards.
I will respond to Jordan’s request on this blog for evidence on my allegations of genocide in Gaza over the next few days but I am going to suggest to him that I would mostly prefer to have our dialog off the pages of TW as some of the evidence is brutal and obscene, and I do not want to be a distraction to the great work you do here, Skip!
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Thanks for the explanation. If you don’t mind, copy me on your reply to Jordan. I want to know too. And as far as I know, the “great Skip Moen” is an urban legend. No such person actually exists.
Hi John,
I would also like to have the links to the evidence regarding the genocide in Gaza. You can send me info at dawnlaugh@frontier.com
Thanks
John – I agree with you that Israel and the IDF should not get a “free pass” when they commit atrocities. Just so we can all have full information to work with, can you provide a specific list of the atrocities you generally mentioned and provide references as to where we might find them having been documented or reported? I, for one, do not want to be deceived where evil is concerned.
Thanks Skip. I certainly see that. I understand that He is good regardless of how He chooses to judge evil. I guess the dichotomy is that we are told to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute…, and so be like our Father in heaven. Yet we see Him annihilating enemies and telling others to do so in the OT and even in the NT (Revelation and the gospels). I am not struggling with this personally but I see it as a point of contention between those who want to separate YHWH into an OT God and a NT God, ie, a God of wrath (law) vs a God of grace (after the cross).
In other words if David would have prayed for Goliath and just loved him (the way NT Christians view love) he would have never killed Goliath and Israel would have remained in bondage to the Philistines. Again the answer to many of these scenarios is God of wrath vs God of love/grace. I don’t buy into that. I certainly don’t see it supported enough in scripture. I don’t think violence should ever be the answer for me personally and I would never advise that, unless I was in charge of military of course 🙂
Is our understanding of this saying of the Messiah (love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you) spoken in a community context that I am not getting? In other words is there a difference between an wicked/enemy within community vs. the wicked/enemy outside of community? Is it one of those questions that has no real answer and should just be left alone?
Thanks for your time
Is this silence on the above the answer? I understand its a very sticky topic….
Dear David,
The post that you reference was written some four years ago. Perhaps the topic was covered then or perhaps other issues are on the present burner. At the moment, I don’t have time to go back four years and reread everything in order to add something significant. Perhaps after class today.
Completely understand Skip! The above was not necessarily addressed to you in particular. As I addressed the original post to the community also. Sorry if my resulting post sounded that way.
The question just kind of got side tracked with the answers that some brought. The resulting discussion was very good, but just seemed to dismiss the original thoughts that I posted….and for many (just like me!) sometimes silence is the answer.
Thank you for considering coming back to it!