31 Days of UnitySample

(Re)flect: Much of the Bible is written for and by people outside of worldly power. They often say that history is written by the victors, which is true. Scripture, however, has mostly been written by the suffering, the ignored, the powerless, the remnant, and the forgotten. It offers a minority report, a witness about power and struggle, and the God at work even among those who feel trampled on by the powerful.

When Jesus talks about life in God’s kingdom, he offers an image of the world turned upside down. As he names in the Beatitudes, in the kingdom of God the meek, the poor, the grieving, and the persecuted are shockingly included in God’s mercy and blessing. Jesus doesn’t ignore the way worldly power works or legitimize the suffering of the powerless when he talks about God’s blessing for them. Instead, Jesus came to subvert and transform these corrupted powers and to empower the people of God to transform them through a revolution of love.

We find strategies for this transforming love throughout the Sermon on the Mount. In this passage, Jesus talks about how to resist evil. His answers are surprising because these strategies do not use power the way we usually do. Instead, Jesus calls his disciples to shame the use of violence and the corruption of power through their ethic of love. He even goes so far as to call his followers to love their enemies, because God loves them. Our life in the kingdom of God taps into the power of God when it recognizes the inherent worth of all people, even those we consider our enemies, and we join God in working for their salvation.

As Jesus points out, the love of God is so incredible that God’s blessing and provision fall, like rain, upon all people. We don’t earn being loved by God. It is a grace that falls on all of our lives. So, we too are called to shower all people with God’s love.

There aren’t easy answers for us when figuring out how to love our enemies, but the call to do so is inescapable for followers of Christ. This is central to our call to unity. Starting with the church and moving outward into the world, we must learn how to love those who were once our enemies.

After you read the passage, ask yourself these questions:

• When you read stories about the powerful and the powerless do you identify more with those who have worldly power or those who don’t?
• Who are your enemies? Why are they your enemies?
• When was the last time you prayed for your enemies? How would consistent prayer for and efforts to bless your enemies change you?

Our Prayer for (Re)flection:

Lord, reveal how we have failed to be obedient to you and to love one another as the children of God. We long to be unified through your love and as the body of Christ. Renew our hearts and minds through your unending love, and give us the courage to surrender ourselves to your Spirit this day. Amen