HOW ARE YOU DOING?
שׁמע
shâma‛ to hear, listen to, obey (verb)
“But I say to you, Those hearing: Love the ones hostile to you, do good to those hating you, bless those cursing you and pray for those insulting you.” Luke 6:27 – 28 LITV
“But I say to you, those hearing” is a very Hebrew way of saying “are you listening?” Zechariah 6:15 at the end of the verse captures this concept very well: “And this shall be, if listening you will listen to the voice of Yehovah your God.”
“If listening you will listen.” Those hearing will be doing, That is at the root of the meaning behind shâma‛. There is another Hebrew word for hear which is ‘âzan which means to listen, as when you hear thunder. It is your ear registering sound waves, which is precisely what we do not want to have happen when Yeshua speaks.
We acknowledge the difference in our culture as well, when we say things like “I said X! Didn’t you hear me?” or when we say, “Did you hear that?” referring to something like an odd sound.
So when Yeshua is speaking here, to those hearing – the willing to do ones, here is the list (no sound pun intended).
“Love the ones hostile to you.” This isn’t just a difficult to get along with person, this is hostility. In Greek it is your echthros, your enemy, someone who is hateful and hostile to you, trying to do you in. In Hebrew the match is oyeb, same thing. This word shows up in Exodus 15:9, the crossing of the sea describing the Egyptians where we find “The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my soul shall be filled with them; I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.” (LITV) That is an echthros – out to eradicate and destroy you and erase your presence from life.
Love that one? How? Fortunately that is what the checklist is about.
“Do good to those hating you,” This is a Hebrew parallelism – saying the same thing but in another way. How do you show love to those who love you? You do good things for them. You surprise them. You do things that they like. Ready for another parallel thought?
“Bless those cursing you” When someone goes off on us our natural reaction is to fight back. Just yesterday I was in a parking lot and a not so friendly dangerous looking man with a really junky car said “Hey I need you to jump me.” I said no thanks because I didn’t feel comfortable even getting out of my car. He got a jump from someone else and when
he got his nasty mobile going, he went off on me. “I hope you and your dog die, I hope you get killed on the way home. Refusing to help me, go die you **&!$%^^ ^*”. You get the picture. I didn’t handle that one too well. I didn’t bless necessarily, I just said “Go have a nice life.” I will have to think about how I responded.
“Pray for those insulting you” But what do I pray? How do I pray? How do I bless? How do I love and do good? It is difficult for me to see through how badly I am being treated.
This is where 1 John 2:6 comes in: “The one claiming to rest in Him ought so to walk himself as that One walked.” This is referring to how Yeshua lived, what he did, how he blessed, how he reacted. Without his example, we are left to our own imaginings and preferences.
However, he wraps up this part of the Gospel of Luke with this:
“But love the ones hostile to you, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be much; and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the unthankful and evil ones. Therefore, be merciful, even as your Father also is
merciful.” (Luke 6:35-36 LITV)
What comes to your mind when you read that? I find it amazing that our actions can show ourselves to be sone of the Most High – in his image – when we also are “kind to the unthankful and evil ones.”
Think of the giving of the manna (as it says in Hebrew man hu’ – “What he?”). Who got manna? (see Exodus 16)
Everyone got manna including the ones who did not obey and it spoiled. Those who loved him and those who didn’t, those who worshipped and those that did so only because someone important to them was watching. Those who pursued “the Most High” and those who didn’t bother all got manna. Just like all got bread from Yeshua when there were too many to feed.
Yeshua said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything from Himself, except what He may see the Father doing; for whatever that One does, these things also the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19 LITV)
There it is. When we imitate the son we are imitators of the father. We make him visible to others and that is what we are being told to do. Make him visible.
Love, do good, bless – like the father does. Pray – like the son does. And you will bear the family resemblance.
How is your checklist doing?