March 1

Luke 6:27-38

In today’s reading from Luke, we find straightforward directions for what we are called to do. It is easy enough for Luke to give us instructions, but it is much harder to put them into practice.

Step 1: “Love your enemies.” Luke explains that we are called not just to love those who love us because even sinners do that. We are asked to love even those who don’t love us. It can be hard to know who your enemies are, who hates you or says mean things about you. This first direction challenges me to find something special and admirable even in the people who I don’t want to like. We all have those people who annoy us, but in each and every one there is something to love.

Step 2: Turn the other cheek. At first, this sounds painful. Luke talks about turning the other cheek if you are hit or giving more if people take your belongings. With these examples, Luke seems to say if we are attacked, we are not to run or retaliate like we might want; we are simply to give more. Just as we are told to love our enemies when we might want to hate them, we are called to be generous when we might want to be defensive.

Step 3: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” I know I heard this a lot when I was little. Don’t hit your sister if you don’t want her to hit you. While we treat others as we want to be treated, we are meant to do so without expecting anything in return. God calls on us to be trendsetters without expecting others to follow.

In the song “If Everyone Cared,” Nickelback sings about a world like the one Luke describes.

“If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died”

We can be the trendsetters who care, love, and share with others. While we are told not to expect everyone to show the same care and love, Nickelback shows us what can happen if our trend catches on.

What God asks us to do today is hard. We are called to give more of ourselves, more of our love, and more of our generosity. All the while, we have the best example of all to follow. Luke says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” God asks each of us to follow his example and show our own love and generosity to everyone we meet.

Rachel Tjornehoj