February 23, 2025
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
“Love your enemies"
by Rev. Trip Porch
February 23, 2025 Based on Luke 6:27-38
"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt." (Luke 6:27-29)
This is one of the hardest teachings of Jesus. Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. These are not just hard words; they feel impossible. And perhaps they feel even more impossible today, when so often, our so-called enemies aren’t people we know, but distant figures on a screen, strangers whose words or actions seem to embody everything we find hateful.
Brené Brown writes, “People are hard to hate close up. Move in. Speak truth to bullshit. Be civil. Hold hands. With strangers. Strong back. Soft front. Wild heart.” When I first read that, I felt the conviction in my gut. Because I know what it is to feel disgust at what my fellow citizens have allowed to happen, to let my anger be amplified by it. I know how much easier it is to hold onto outrage when I do not know a person’s face, when I have not heard their voice, when I have not had to stand before them as a fellow human being.
And yet, Jesus says, "Love your enemies." Not just tolerate them. Not just avoid them. Love them.
This commandment is difficult in every age, but right now, in a world that is increasingly polarized, and in a world where so many profit off keeping us polarized and outraged, it may be even harder. Because when we think of enemies, we think of ideologies, political figures, faceless masses who are supporting policies that harm the people we love. And so often our need to stay informed, also
And this is hard even for me, a pastor who has centered the importance of following Jesus' teachings in my life.
I know that I am supposed to love my enemies. But how do I love someone who is actively being unloving towards others? How do I love one who is so clearly committed to hate? How do I love the ones who are actively harming the poor, the immigrant, the vulnerable? How do I love someone whose actions feel like they are against the very heart of Jesus? If I’m being honest, my instinct is not to love. It is to resist. It is to protect the least of these who Jesus commands us to love, first and foremost.
And perhaps, that is where a true understanding of Christian love should begin, in our ability to love those the world tells us we shouldn't love.
Recently, in a discussion about his administrations immigration policies, Vice President JD Vance who is a catholic, used an obscure catholic doctrine from Augustine of Hippo to justify harsh deportation policies. He referred to what is ”ordo amoris," or "rightly ordered love.” Which he interpreted as the idea that there are hierarchical circles of love that radiate outward, that love should first start for those at home— for our family, our community, our nation—before it extends outward. It’s an argument that has been used before, and on the surface, you can see how you might draw that conclusion, that we are first to love those who are easy to love before moving outward.
Except that doesn’t really capture how Christ tells us to love, and the head of the catholic church, Pope Francis, was quick to respond and forcefully, rejecting the idea that love should be a concentric circle of priority, where some get preference while others are left behind.
Instead, the Pope reminded us that the truest ordo amoris, looks like how Christ loved, and he referenced the Parable of the Good Samaritan: a story of love shown between people who were supposed to be enemies. A love that insists on seeing people not by their nationality but by their humanity. A love that bears witness to suffering and chooses not to pass by but act, not because the other person is our family and in the innermost circle of love, not because they are a citizen and in the next circle of love, but because there are not circles to prioritize love. We love the person because they are human and worthy of love. This doesn't just apply to those who love us back, it applies to those who we are told are unworthy of love, and even, in Jesus' teaching today, to those who rule by hatred and fear.
But I think it’s important to clarify, Jesus, in commanding us to love our enemies, is not telling us to ignore or tolerate injustice. He is not telling us to passively accept evil. He is telling us to live by a love so radical, so reckless, that it refuses to dehumanize even those who oppose us. A Love that is so insistent on loving that it keeps us from meeting our enemies hate with our own hate, it keeps us from spiraling into becoming the very thing we oppose.
And that is a challenge. Because I confess: I do not want to love my enemies when my enemies are targeting the very people Jesus called us to love. I do not want to pray for those who pass laws that tear families apart.
But perhaps love, quote "rightly ordered," means this: that I must love all of God's people, but in a world where I can't yet, because people are being directly harmed, my first act of love is to do the good I can do, it is to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, and my second act is working toward the transformation of the oppressor.
Brené Brown’s words ring in my ears: People are hard to hate up close... so Move in. Speak truth to BS. Be civil. Hold hands. A strong back, a soft front, a wild heart.
Maybe this must be our call, in a world that profits off of our outrage and hatred. Maybe the call to love is for us to move in, to refuse to fall into cycles of hatred.
Loving our enemies is not about passivity or tolerance for our enemies' hatred. It is about refusing to become what we hate. It is about seeing the face of God even in those who cannot yet see it in us. It is about holding firm to justice while leaving open the possibility of redemption.
And maybe—if you aren’t in a place where you can love your enemies yet—at least we can follow Jesus by not letting the hate consume us until we become like our enemy. Maybe if you can’t love your enemy yet, at least you can put the phone down, log off the 24-hour news cycle and social media algorithms designed to feed your rage for profit. Maybe we can take steps toward loving our enemies, because that is the path Jesus laid before us. And that path—difficult as it may be—is the only one that leads to life.
May we walk that path with strong backs, soft fronts, and wild hearts.
Maybe we walk that path with people up close,
May we draw close to one another
may we draw close to those who are not being shown love,
And may God also draw us closer to those who hate,
until the world is a at last rooted in the love that Christ shared,
may it be so, Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” arr. Beth Elston
INTROIT “With Joy, With Praise, With Love, With Peace” Emma Lou Diemer
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: The way of Christ turns the world upside down.
All: God’s ways are not our ways.
One: It moves us beyond retribution and cycles of violence.
All: God’s ways are not our ways.
One: It leads us to enemy-love and scandalous forgiveness.
All: God’s ways are not our ways.
One: It calls us beyond reciprocity into radical giving.
All: God’s ways are not our ways.
Other: So let us commit our way to the Lord together until our righteousness shines
like the dawn and our justice like high noon.
All: Let us worship God.
*HYMN 410 “God Is Calling through the Whisper” W ŻLOBIE LEŻY
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Bob Concitis
Merciful God, we confess that we struggle to love as you have commanded. We hold grudges, nurture resentments, and turn away from those who challenge us. We justify our anger instead of seeking reconciliation. Forgive us, Lord. Teach us your radical love—the love that extends to neighbor, stranger, and even to enemies. The love that seeks justice without hatred, the love that transforms hearts. Renew us in your mercy and set us on the path of peace. In the silence hear our confessions of where we have struggled to love…
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPOPNSE OF PRAISE 583 “Gloria, Gloria” GLORIA (Taize)
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “You Do Not Walk Alone” Elaine Hagenberg
CHILDREN’S RECESSIONAL 175 “Seek Ye First” vs. 1
Children: May God be with you here
Congregation: May God be with you there
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE Luke 6:27-38 CEB
“But I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well. If someone takes your coat, don’t withhold your shirt either. Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand your things back from those who take them. Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you.
“If you love those who love you, why should you be commended? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, why should you be commended? Even sinners do that. If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, why should you be commended? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be paid back in full. Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return. If you do, you will have a great reward. You will be acting the way children of the Most High act, for he is kind to ungrateful and wicked people. Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.
“Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return.”
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
Thanks be to God
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 753 “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Saying: O God of grace, bless us with peace.
TIME OF OFFERING online giving is available at www. indianolapres.org/give
OFFERTORY “Quiero ser, Señor, instrumento de tu paz” arr. Ronald F. Krisman
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE 710 “We Lift Our Voices” OFFERING
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
God of abundance, receive these gifts, given in love. May they serve your purposes, lifting up the lowly, healing the broken, and proclaiming the good news of your kingdom. Use us, and all that we have, for your glory. Amen.
*Hymn 754 “Help Us Accept Each Other” BARONITA
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE & BENEDICTION
CHORAL RESPONSE “We Take the Love of God” Emma Lou Diemer
POSTLUDE “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” arr. Stephan DeCesare
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452