"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt 5:43-48)
It is impossible. It is impossible to pray for those who persecute us. It is impossible to be perfect like the heavenly Father. If we are the children of God then we should be like him. He does not have favourites. He causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust; he makes the sun to rise bad and the good. What sense can we make of Israel as the chosen people of God? Are they not his favourites?
Israel is not chosen in order to be God’s special people while the rest of the world remains in outer darkness. Israel is chosen to be the light of the world and salt of the earth. Israel is chosen so that, through Israel, God can bless all people. They are chosen for a purpose, for a mission.
Jesus is the model for imitating the Father. He sowed us a new way of being human. When they mocked him, he did not respond. When the struck him, he took the pain. When the placed a cross on him, he carried it to the place of his own execution. When the nailed him to the cross, he prayed for them. So the Sermon on the Mount is not an advice for us, in stead it is the good news. It is about Jesus.
