Matthew 5. 43 – 48
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOURS
KIN AND ENEMIES
Jesus asks us not to
hate μισέω
but (44) to love ἀγαπη
our enemies.
I but say to you love
ἀγαπᾶτε (note
imperative form) the enemies of yours kai pray for them (hyper means for rather than over here) and not it is literally pray for those who
hunt you for διωκω is to
hunt prey and persecute a later meaning taken from the Greeks using
this verb is also mean accuse in a court case to hunt someone to
justice!
An
ἐχθρός is the person you hate or loathe not merely dislike or
are uncomfortable with. They may or may not feel the same way about
you. Whatever the situation and however mutual the feeling and
whatever degree hate is something to avoid.
45
Note the idea of benevolent behaviour towards the good and the evil
the sun rises a natural process and rain comes a blessing to all.
Are we, can we, make prayer a natural process, as inherent say as
breathing? Easily said than done?
A
language note
ἀνατέλλει
is one of those verbs which has a double ll in the present and a
single elsewhere and is to related to ἀνατολη,
the east, the direction of the sun rise and hence the origin of
Anatolia, the area we know call Turkey.
46.
if for you love those who love why why reward has? No indedd and the
tax collections the selfsame thing do?
It's easy to love those
who love back but even the reviled tax collectors could do that.
Telooonai were what we
might currently call independent contractors. They collected various revenues taxes fees and data for assessing taxes for the Roman Empire
but it was an outsourced role. They were not actually government
employes or civil servants and since they earnt their profit as part of the tax … the role was open to corruption. Not a popular job!
47 and if you salute /
greet respectfully your brothers and kin only what / how is (that)
better no indeed the Nations (Gentiles used the way a Roman or Greek
meant use barbarian) the same thing do!
Perhaps you have had
the experience of making someone who's a perfect gentleman at home
but a hoon or a thug to their neighbours or any one who's not a close
relative?
Its not just enough to
love your relatives or neighbours we are called on to love more
widely.
48. you are to become
therefore perfect as / like god is
τελειος
isn't an end state its a process of achieving and maintaining a state
of entireness completion fullness. It may be an end state but also a
process. Why do I stress this. Consider the Greek perfect tense and
which word the Greek grammarians used to describe it. Process leads
to results.
Transcending
hate is hard work but brings us closer to the divine?
Time
for prayer.
