Mt 5:43-48
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, 45that 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. 46For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? 48So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
GOD MAKES HIIS SUN RISE: Looking at creation with mystical eyes, the apostle Paul writes that God is made evident in the works of his hands: “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made” (Rom 1:20). In the Old Testament, the psalmist marvels at the awesomeness of God’s creation which reflects on the dignity of man: “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers… what are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?” (Ps 8:4-5). For Jesus, too, and for the people of his time, nature is not a self-enclosed world. Nature, which obeys the divine will, reflects the desire and action of God.
The rising of the sun and the falling of the rain which people take for granted are, for Jesus, signs of God’s providence. The fact that they benefit all, irrespective of people’s conduct, points out that God cares equally for the righteous and the wicked.
Jesus says that as children of the heavenly Father, we should imitate his ways, especially in showing love and mercy without making any distinction. Human beings tend to repay goodness by another good act. Even sinners and those who do not know God do this. Jesus’ disciples should go beyond natural goodness and extend their love even to the undeserving. They must be guided by only one consideration: the Father himself is prodigal with his love and mercy.