Love your enemies. It’s easy to claim that these words are countercultural, like so much of the Sermon on the Mount. It can be theologically fruitful to highlight the beautiful paradox of love juxtaposed with hatred (the root of Jesus’ word for enemies). And it’s important, during these politically divisive days, to remind ourselves that those people whose ideas and actions seem anathema to us are still God’s children.
But I have trouble dwelling in such interpretive abstractions. I keep getting stuck in the more concrete question that comes first: Who are my enemies?
Do I even have enemies? There’s that neighbor whose cigarette smoke perpetually drifts into our yard, bringing malodorous chemicals to my spouse’s garden and my children’s lungs. Is he my enemy? I’ve been deeply hurt in the past by the actions of people who possess astonishingly low levels of self-awareness, humility, or restraint. Maybe those people count as my enemies?
