Go, and Do Thou Likewise

To my son,

                When the Savior was on the earth He gave a famous set of teachings known as the Sermon on the Mount. In it he said this, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). I love that verse because it is such a powerful instruction: we can respond to those who hurt us or hate us or persecute us with love! That is the way of the Savior and what He taught and showed all through His life: we must learn to love all people, no matter how they treat us personally. One of the ways that He taught this principle was in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer asked the Savior, “Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asked the question back to him and the man gave this answer: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” The Savior answered that this was correct—that is indeed what we must do to be saved—but the lawyer followed up with one more question: “And who is my neighbour?” The way that Jesus then answered this question was by giving the parable. To fully understand the story, it is important to recognize that the Samaritans were people who were looked down upon by the Jews, and so the man asking the question likely would have had a prejudice against Samaritans and considered them their enemies. Jesus told how “a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” After some Jews passed by without helping, “a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.” The story doesn’t say who the injured man was, but likely he was a Jew and was supposed to be an enemy of the Samaritans, but this didn’t stop this good Samaritan from helping and healing the man. He showed that it didn’t matter who he was; he was in need of help and the Samaritan made a sacrifice to help and take care of him. The words of Jesus to the lawyer who originally asked the question are a powerful instruction to us today: “Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:25-37).

                I know that it is not easy to love those who are mean to us or show kindness to those who we feel have wronged us. But that’s exactly what Jesus asks us to do! And He showed us the way by living as He preached and loving His enemies. When some evil people came to arrest Him, even though He had of course done nothing wrong, Peter was naturally upset. He wanted to defend His Master, and so he wielded his sword and struck off the ear of a man named Malchus, a servant of the high priest. When Jesus saw this He was not pleased. We read in Luke’s account: “And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him” (Luke 22:51). He healed someone who was there to unjustly imprison him! Later when He hung on the cross, suffering cruelly from what must have been unbearable pain, He said these words about the Romans who had tortured and mocked Him: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). What incredible love! Indeed He believed the teaching that He had given: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” I want to encourage you to try to live according to these words, and when you feel that another has been mean to you, think of Jesus and how He responded with love even to actions of hate. As you do so you will truly become His disciple and feel of His great love more fully for you. 

Love,

Dad