Lk 6:27-38
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 27“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. 34If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.
35But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful.
37“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. 38Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Love of Enemies: For the Jews, people are either neighbors or enemies. “Neighbors” are family or clan members, or are fellow Jews. The Jews are enjoined to love their neighbors as they love themselves (Lv 19:8). With regard to a “stranger”—one who is not a member of a tribe or is a non-Israelite—the Jews exhibit a paradoxical combination of hostility and friendliness. They are enjoined to offer hospitality, yet they view a stranger with suspicion.
The “enemies” in the Gospel include people who do direct harm, and the outsiders or foreigners with whom one does not associate. Jesus tells his disciples to behave towards strangers the way they would behave towards members of their own household. Ordinary people love their family and friends. The disciples are to surpass this by loving “strangers,” by not having recourse to generalizing or stereotyping. The Golden Rule tells us to refrain from doing to others what displeases us, and to do good things to them out of the goodness of our hearts.
The attitude of Jesus and of the primitive Church toward the foreigner was thus revolutionary. When the community of believers accepted the Gentiles, the foreigners who joined them would soon outnumber the ethnic Jews.