Loving Even Our Enemies

The Pharisees had again weakened the law of God by stating that the command to love your neighbor meant only those near to you - and thus one could hate his enemies. But Jesus points out that our neighbor is anyone with whom we have contact, and we are to love those whom God providentially puts in our path. Therefore, the command was not to be limited in this way. By doing so, the Pharisees basically made it possible to hate anyone, simply by labelling them an enemy. We must learn how to love even those who hate us; and that involves learning what it means to love them.