But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:35-36 (ESV)

Luke 6:27-36 deals in large part with the treatment of other people, and especially people of the sort one might deeply dislike. In verses 27-30 Jesus instructs his audience to (1) love their enemies[1], (2) do good to those who hate them, (3) bless those who curse them, (4) pray for those who abuse them, (5) offer the other cheek to those who strike them, (6) not withold their tunic to those that take away their cloak, (7) give to those who beg from them and (8) not demand their goods back from those who take them. Further, in verse 31 he lays out a general or an absolute principle for their treatment of others: “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”

Now, suppose that one of his hearers would ask him why they should do these things. Based on the passage, we might suggest that Jesus would answer roughly that (1) they would want these things done to them if the roles were reversed, (2) by doing these things they will go beyond what sinners do, setting them apart from them, and preform true feats, (3) doing these things is in accordance with the way their heavenly Father treats others, including “the ungrateful and the evil” and, as His children, it is therefore fitting that they do these things, (4) by doing these things they will be obedient and/or ‘true’ children of the Most High and (5) by doing these things they will do things that are pleasing to their heavenly Father and will be greatly rewarded for it.

A principle which is not mentioned in this passage, but which connects well with it and may have played a role here is ‘Do not repay evil with evil’ (see Romans 12:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:15, 1 Peter 3:9 and Proverbs 24:29). We may also connect this passage to Jesus warning: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20 (ESV). We may also connect this passage to passages which provide evidence that Jesus lived in accordance with his own teachings, see for example Luke 23:34 (“Father, forgive them”), Matthew 8:5-13 (healing of centurion’s servant) and John 4:4-42 (dealings with Samaritans).

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[1] We may find that, if we are honest, we are not quite sure what Jesus’s instruction “Love your enemies” means. But perhaps we can get a bit clearer on it. In English to love someone is, at least ordinarily, something along the lines of deeply liking someone and/or wanting their ultimate welfare and wellbeing. In trying to understand what is in view it can also help to analyse what hating one’s enemy is, since that is, at least arguably, the opposite of loving one’s enemy. Hating one’s enemies is something along the lines of intesely disliking one’s enemies and/or wanting their ultimate death, destruction and/or suffering. Of course, one could argue that the English leads us astray and that what is in view, at least in the Greek text, is pure action and behavior. The passage admittedly deals to a large extent with actions and behavior, but we also have evidence that Jesus’s cared about more internal matters (e.g. Luke 6:45, 14:18; Matthew 5:22, 15:19, 23:27-28). Moreover, it is difficult to make sense of Luke 14:18 on a purely behavioral theory of agapao.