Jesus teaches the crowd about love. The love Jesus speaks about is not just words but actions. He confronts the idea that we should just love those who are easy to love. He pushes us to move past loving only those who love us back. The crowd hears Jesus speak about the kind of love God wants to see from us and the kind of love that was displayed by him.

Jesus encourages us to do good to those who hate us. He even teaches that we should pray for them. That is definitely a challenge. How do we wish good for those who wish evil for us? How do we seek blessings for those who would rather see harm befall us? The answer is found in the teaching that Jesus gives here. We must change our attitude and perspective. If someone strikes us we should offer the other. If someone takes our worldly things don’t demand them back.

Jesus talks about even sinners love those who love them. There is no credit in doing the simple and easy thing. We should love and do good to all. Jesus is opening our minds to the bigger picture. Jesus will die on the cross for all people. The righteous and the unrighteous. His love is extended to all people. That is what he is teaching us. Each person we come in contact with has a soul. That soul will either be lost or saved in the end. We should strive to live in such a way that we will try and help all souls be saved in the end. We don’t see an enemy or a foe. We see a soul that was loved by God. We want to be seen as a soul worthy of saving and we need to see others in the same way. To do that we must love.