Beautiful words, but are they still relevant?
“Love God and your neighbor as yourself, and pray for those who persecute you.”
Jesus’ words echo through the centuries, but do we still take them seriously? Or have they become a utopia, a beautiful illusion in the air?
With sweat and tears, I argue in this blog that his words are not to be confused with sweet-sounding ideals, but call us to a radical way of life. Love or perish in bitterness and hatred.
These are not light words in a world of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” and “eat or be eaten.”
2. Consider Others
3. Start With What You Yourself Would Want
4. Test Everything, Hold Fast What Is Good
5. Accept Your Own Strangeness
Why Write About Loving Your Enemies?
We could start with the Middle East or the death of Charlie Kirk — both valid reasons. But in this case, it begins with an excavation of a Samaritan village in Kafr Qasim, an Arab-Israeli town.
This discovery proves that not all villages were wiped out during the Byzantine Empire, which left little room for non-Christian groups. What’s remarkable is that this village likely dates back to the same century in which Jesus walked the earth.
“The early Christian writer Justin Martyr (100–165 CE) suggests that Menander, a Samaritan who founded one of the early Gnostic movements, was born in Kafr Hatta (Kafr Qasim). Menander was a student of Simon Magus (or Simon the Sorcerer), who clashed with the apostle Peter.” — Nathan Steinmeyer, Biblical Archaeology (2025)
The Samaritan Menander came from Kafr Qasim (100–165 CE). I can’t say the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable came from that village, but I can say that Jesus chose that group as the hero of his story, which was shocking in his Jewish community.
The Samaritan in the Story
When I read about that excavation, my mind immediately turned to Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. For me, in all simplicity, it is the most beautiful story ever told — the hypocenter of the Christian faith.
If someone asked me what faith is all about, I would point to this story.
“To whom can you be a neighbor?” Jesus says.
What a twist. Instead of hiding behind dubious end-time scenarios or one-sided us-versus-them schemes, Jesus — as the image of the invisible God — says:
“Love!”
Are you human enough? Do you dare to look for the stranger within yourself instead of outside yourself? Do you dare to work on yourself instead of constantly identifying enemies beyond you?
1. Acknowledge That You Have Enemies
Most of us living in peaceful societies might say, “I have no enemies.” That sounds too harsh, too militant, too old-fashioned. But think again.
Who makes you feel threatened? Whose presence makes your heart race with anxiety or defensiveness? Who makes you want to put up walls — or go on the offensive?
The Samaritan in Jesus’ story symbolizes anyone we don’t hold in high regard, don’t understand, find strange, or even despise.
The Samaritan in Jesus’ story can symbolize anyone we don’t hold in high regard, don’t understand, find strange, or even despise.
Variations on the Good Samaritan
The good Israeli / the good Palestinian
The God-fearing white heterosexual alpha male / the God-fearing transgender person
The beautiful Hindu man / the beautiful Muslim woman
The kind left-wing progressive / the kind right-wing fundamentalist
The good government / the good mega-corporation
The free socialist / the social capitalist
The merciful ... (fill in your own name)
A good test is to examine what lies beneath your emotions.
If someone doesn’t behave according to your gender expectations — why does that bother you so much?
What makes someone fully masculine or feminine in your eyes? Where does that discomfort come from?
+ Tip: Listen to a podcast with actor Marlon Brando, who speaks surprisingly insightfully about the search for self-knowledge and its relevance today.
2. Consider Others
Loving your enemy also means considering what someone else is going through.
The Samaritan stopped and noticed the wounded man’s situation.
Of course, we can’t literally walk in someone else’s shoes, but with the imagination God gave us, we can come close. Jesus assumed that every person can empathize to some degree. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked us to pray for others.
Do we have the right to speak if we haven’t first prayed for someone? Only when we can look someone in the eye, speak truthfully, and engage in dialogue are we on the right path.
Be like the frog in the children’s story — the one who dared to meet the stranger and became a friend.
3. Start With What You Would Want for Yourself
How can you love your enemy? Start with what you would want. Love, not as a rule, but as a desire. You want a chance, so give someone else one. Not to score points with God. You’re already loved. You’re already good.
Give others a chance because it’s the right thing to do, because the world around you calls for it. The other person already asks me, without words, for respect, dignity, and a chance to be heard and seen.”
Even if unspoken, every face calls us to love, just as Emmanuel Levinas describes. And if we refuse, the blood cries out from the earth, as in Genesis 4.
Illustration
Recently, I faced a church decision where not everyone was considered “welcome.” But could I tell my own child he couldn’t be who he is in church? I couldn’t and I wouldn’t. That would be unchristian and contrary to who I believe God is, and to the heart of Jesus’ life.
Love has its own justice, one that comes from within, not from rules. Those who include others include themselves; those who exclude others, exclude themselves. That is the meaning of Jesus' measure we use.
4. Test Everything, Hold Fast What Is Good
Make a clear distinction between understanding and agreeing. Understanding doesn’t mean approval — it means growth.
“Test everything; hold fast what is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21
A teacher once told me that in China he learned to eat fish by putting it whole in his mouth before removing the bones. That’s a perfect picture of discernment: take it in, sort it out, keep what nourishes you.
It is worth everything - absolutely everything - to learn to understand everyone and everything. I believe that is our purpose in life. That is why we live.
5. Accept Your Own Strangeness
Finally: accept your own strangeness. If you can’t reconcile all parts of yourself — the good, the bad, the ugly — it becomes very hard to see goodness in others.
As Julia Kristeva said: “The stranger is within yourself.” The question is not “Why is that person so strange?” but “Why do I find that person strange?"
The Samaritan didn’t just help people from his own tribe, he helped an enemy. He had crossed that inner barrier.
We are more than the sum of our identities. When we cling to only a few, we start excluding others. But that stranger — that “other” — is also you.
Be gentle with yourself. Don’t impose unnecessary burdens on yourself or others.
Closing Words
In the spirit of the Good Samaritan, we can hear Jesus’ call once again:
“To whom are you a good friend?”
We can wait for others to act, or we can take the first step. We can acknowledge our enemies, consider their situation, start from our own longing for good, and discern what is right — all while being kind to ourselves.
But beware: you might change for good.
“The parable offers … a vision of life rather than death. It insists that enemies can prove to be neighbors, that compassion has no boundaries, and that judging people on the basis of their religion or ethnicity will leave us dying in a ditch.”
— Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies
With this blog, I do not wish to downplay the deep psychological trauma caused by hostility that turns militant and takes lives. The question remains: how can we love such enemies? Who can break the vicious circle of violence and hatred?
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