"Instead of preaching, perhaps what is more appropriate is, in fact, confession of how hard it is to actually love our enemies,” says Pastor Jarrod McKenna.
Though this video reflection for Common Grace’s Love Thy Neighbour campaign was filmed a few weeks ago, its pre-scheduled release today goes right to the heart of enemy love and offers a Christian response to terrorism in the days after shocking attacks in Brussels, Istanbul, and elsewhere.
As news reports from Belgium came through yesterday, McKenna provides an alternative response to a world that is reeling from fear, and struggling not to default to hatred.
“This teaching is the most often quoted teaching of the early church, because it is the teaching that sums up the cross the easiest,” he says.
“Enemy love is Easter in practice in our own lives. Enemy love is when we take the love at Calvary that has saved us, and we live that love in witness to how God has saved us. …And it's so hard."
Jarrod goes on to tell the story of Indonesian pastor Paulus, whose church was burned and whose mentor was beheaded by terrorists. The pastor and his church responded with acts of enemy love that included paying for their leaders' education.
"When I spent time with Pastor Paulus and asked him why, his response was, ‘We have to. This is how God has loved us,’" Jarrod says.
Watch the full video, and find more Holy Week devotional resources on the Good Samaritan here.
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!