Loving when it seems impossible

Robert Allan February 25, 2025 7 3

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Luke 6: 27-28 (NRSV)

27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; 28 bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.

I have used this story several times over the years, including in previous reflections for Sanctuary First, and now unashamedly I repeat it. It is part of the story of Corrie Ten Boom: As the Nazi madness swept across Europe, a quiet watchmaker’s family in Holland risked everything for the sake of others, and for the sake of Christ. Shadowed by danger and threat of discovery, they offered shelter to persecuted Jews. Then a trap brought the family’s arrest. Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie ended up in the filth and degradation of a concentration camp in conditions we couldn’t even begin to imagine. 

After the war Corrie spoke at a Church service in Munich only to be confronted immediately at the end by a man who had been one of the SS soldiers who had treated them so harshly. He was grateful for the message Corrie had preached that Jesus washed his sins away, then he thrust out his hand to shake hers. Can you imagine what it meant for that courageous woman to shake that man’s hand? She goes on to say, “And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on the Lord’s. When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with the command, the love itself.” That powerful story says it all.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, how can you ask us to love our enemies? It is impossible for us. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, is much fairer, much more sensible. And yet, this world seems unable to live in harmony; history and our world today is littered with hatred and war. Maybe, maybe if we took you at your word, things might be different. So, Lord, as we take a deep breath, please fill us with your love that we too might love our enemies and pray for those who make life difficult for us, making the impossible, possible, and let your transforming love change our lives and our world. Amen.