“Love That Disrupts” was preached at First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA on February 23, 2025. You can hear/watch this sermon here, starting at 48:45.
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Scripture
text:
Luke 6:27-36
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Is
there anything you don’t like about Jesus?
When
asking this question to our youth or to our eldest of members, when asking Jesus’
most committed of disciples to those who still on the fence, when asking a more
traditional style of worshipper or a more contemporary style of worshipper, there
seems to be a similar reoccurring answer.
Is
there anything you don’t like about Jesus? Yeah, he tells us to love our
enemies!
I
get it. Because if we’re being honest, this is one of Jesus’ hardest teachings:
loving our enemies.
Because
Jesus isn’t just talking about the people who frustrate us. He’s not just
saying, “Love the person who cut you off in traffic” or “Love the neighbor who
doesn’t shovel their sidewalk.” No, Jesus is speaking to people who have been
deeply harmed. People who know what it is to suffer under systems of injustice.
People who have been insulted, humiliated, and oppressed.
It’s
to them, Jesus says: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless
those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.
And
if we’re looking at the state of our country and our world right now; we’re
feeling exhausted. We are a community that cares deeply about people. We stand
with the marginalized. We speak up for the voiceless. And yet, in times like
these, it feels like no matter how much we do, the forces of hatred and fear
keep pushing back. I know many of us are struggling right now.
And
so it’s also to us, Jesus says: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate
you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.
And
that’s where this teaching starts to feel impossible. Because when we’ve been
wounded, when we see injustice running rampant in the world, when we feel
overwhelmed by the hatred and division that seem to define our time, love is
not our first instinct. We want justice. We want things to be made right. And
sometimes, if we’re honest, we just want to see our enemies fall.
So
what do we do with this command? What does it really mean to love our enemies
in a world that feels so broken?
And
I don’t need to define who your enemies are for you. As a member of the LGTBQIA+
community, I have my people who have harmed me and continue to harm people like
me in this country and world. I’m confident you have people who have harmed
you. While our “enemies” may differ, the ways in which we are called to love
them remains the same. So let’s talk about that.
The
love we’re exploring today isn’t some passive type of love. It sure isn’t weak.
In fact, it’s the most powerful force in the world as it’s the same love that
God has for humankind.
The
Gospel of Luke, like most other books in the Newer Testament, was written in
koine Greek, or Common Greek; Greek that used at the time when Christ came to
us as the Word made flesh. While the word “love” in English can describe many
different types of relationship, each type of love had a different word in
Greek. We know of at least four that were used during Christ’s time on earth.
First,
there is Eros: a romantic, passionate love between two spouses.
Second,
we hear of Storge: a familial type of love between parents, siblings, children,
etc.
Third,
there is Phillia: the type of warm, affectionate love between friends with shared
values and mutual respect. Think of Philadelphia, which translates to “the city
of brotherly love”. An example of is when Mary and Martha send a message to
Jesus letting him know: “Lord, he whom you love, your friend!, is ill.”
And
fourth, there is Agape: unconditional, selfless love that extends beyond
oneself. Agape is used over 100 times in the Newer Testament, most often used
to describe God’s love for us… but also the love we should have for God and
neighbor… and enemy.
Here
is why this distinction of love is important. When Jesus is telling us to love
our enemies, it is not romantic, familial, or even warm and affectionate
between two friends. Love is not always friendly! But the love we have for our
enemies is selfless.
What
do we mean by that? This isn’t a sentimental type of love. It’s not the kind of
love that ignores injustice or pretends that harm hasn’t been done. It’s not
about keeping the peace at all costs or tolerating abuse. The love Jesus
commands is something far more disruptive than that.
This
love – this agape love, this selfless love that disrupts – is also the love Paul
is describing in 1 Corinthians 13. I’m sure we’ve all heard this passage
before, “Love is patient; love is kind…” and so on.
We
often hear this passage at weddings, and while it can speak to the love shared
between two people, Paul wasn’t writing about eros romantic love. He was
writing about agape love to a divided church. A church where people were
fighting for power, where some felt superior to others, where resentment and
self-interest were tearing the community apart. Those who were already oppressed
were the greatest recipients of the further harm being done.
So
Paul encourages them to practice a love that is patient in the face of
hostility, a love that is kind even when kindness is not returned, a love that
does not dishonor others, even when others have dishonored them, a love that
does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth, standing firm against
injustice while refusing to return hate for hate, and a love that always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
This
is not a love that ignores oppression. It is a love that refuses to let
oppression define us.
And
that brings us back to Jesus’ command. Because when he tells us to love our
enemies, he is not telling us to accept injustice. He is telling us to refuse
to let injustice turn us into people of hate.
Jesus
is calling his followers to love in a way that refuses to play by the world’s
rules. The world teaches us that when someone hurts us, we hurt them back. When
someone curses us, we curse them in return. When someone takes from us, we take
from them. We see this cycle of retribution everywhere—on the world stage, in
our communities, even in our personal relationships.
But
Jesus looks at that cycle of hate and says, No more.
Look
at the examples Jesus gives:
· If someone strikes
you on the cheek, offer the other also. This isn’t about being passive—it’s
about reclaiming dignity. In Jesus’ time, a slap wasn’t just an act of
violence; it was an act of humiliation. To turn the other cheek is to refuse to
be humiliated—it forces the oppressor to see you as an equal.
· If someone takes
your coat, do not withhold your shirt. Again, this isn’t about rolling
over—it’s about exposing the injustice. Imagine someone in court suing you for
your coat, and instead of fighting back, you hand them your shirt, standing
there with nothing left. It makes their greed and cruelty undeniable.
· Give to everyone
who asks of you. Do to others as you would have them do to you. This kind
of generosity goes beyond what is fair. It reflects a world that is shaped not
by power and control, but by God’s abundance.
Jesus
isn’t saying, “Let people walk all over you.” He’s saying, “Do not let their
hatred define you. Do not let them dictate the terms of your response.” That’s
what makes this love so radical. It is not passive: it is active resistance
against the forces of hate and fear. It is a love that refuses to play by the
enemy’s rules.
And
that’s where it gets personal for us. Because we live in a time where hate is
loud. Where fear is being used as a weapon. Where injustice is being justified
in the name of power. And we, as disciples of Christ in the world today, have
to decide: Will we respond in the way the world expects us to? Or will we
disrupt the cycle?
I
believe, in my heart of hearts, we will live out a love that disrupts.
It
will challenge the world’s way of doing things. It will force people to see the
humanity even in those they have dehumanized. It will break the cycles of fear
and hate.
This
love means speaking truth—but doing so without cruelty. It means standing
firm—but doing so without losing our compassion. It means confronting
injustice—but doing so in a way that offers an alternative, rather than just
another version of the same broken system.
And
that’s what makes it so hard. Because loving like this is costly. It requires
something of us. It means choosing a different way when the world gives us
every reason to lash out. But Jesus never said it would be easy—only that it
would be worth it. A better world filled with more agape love will be worth it.
First
Presbyterian Church of Allentown is called to embody this love. We are a
community that welcomes the outsider, that refuses to demonize, that works for
justice not out of bitterness but out of a deep and abiding love for all of
God’s children. Because when we live this way—when we love this way—we disrupt
the patterns of the world. We refuse to let hate and fear have the final word. And
in doing so, we bear witness to a kin-dom that is not built on power or
revenge, but on the radical, transformative love of Christ.
Because
here’s the truth: people are watching.
In
an age of division, people are watching to see how those who are hurt respond. In
a time of fear, people are watching to see if we will choose courage. In a
culture of retaliation, people are watching to see if we will love differently.
So
what will we show them?
Will
we mirror the hatred that surrounds us, or will we disrupt it?
Will
we let fear dictate our actions, or will we trust that love is still the most
powerful force in the world?
Will
we be a people who love boldly, courageously, prophetically; people who refuse
to let the world’s brokenness dictate our response?
That
is the challenge before us. That is the call of Christ.
When
we live this way—when we love this way—we don’t just endure the world as it is.
We help transform it.
This
is the love that heals wounds. This is the love that builds bridges. This is
the love that brings the kin-dom of God near.
So
may we go from this place ready to love—not with a love that is weak or easy,
but with a love that disrupts, that challenges, that refuses to let hate and
fear have the final word.
May
we love in a way that changes hearts, changes communities, and, by the grace of
God, even changes the world.
Amen.
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Love Your Enemies, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58810 [retrieved February 23, 2025]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/boojee/2929823056/.
