When Jesus said love your enemies, he was living in the middle of a very polarised culture. There wasn’t peace between the Roman Empire and Israel. There was resentment and anger, as well as oppression and exploitation. There were sides to be taken.

Many in Israel had seen, in their study of the Law and the Prophets, the coming of a conquering Messiah. One who would liberate them once and for all from the cycle of oppressive domination—of which the Romans were merely the latest in a long line of oppressors.

Since October 2023, as heartbreaking violence began and has escalated in Israel and Palestine, we find ourselves asking, what does it really mean that Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)? When he could have conquered every oppressive force decisively once and for all, why did Jesus lead with peace and service?

In Matthew, Jesus makes a direct challenge to the hope for a conquering Messiah. And he explicitly redirects a framework of violence that many among his audience might have found hard to take.

‘You’ve heard it said . . . but I tell you’.  

This is a well-known moment. The eye for the eye (of Exodus 21:23-25) is replaced with turning the other cheek. The love your neighbour, hate your enemy is replaced with love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:38-44). Perhaps some in the audience might have been ready to cheer the first statement but were quickly deflated by the second.

Jesus drains all the violence out of the Old Testament’s prescription for retributive justice. There will be no retribution, only restoration—the other cheek, and sacrificial love. Give them your coat, in fact double down and give them more than they ask for and go twice the distance.

In the conflicts of our day, people often demand we draw lines and take sides. We live in a divided and polarised time but so did Jesus. And his challenge to dismantle those divisions with a commitment to peace, and to servant-hearted love, remains as potent today as it was during the Sermon on the Mount.

Made In The Image Of God 

During age long divisions and conflicts, the principles of impartiality and neutrality are particularly important when seeking to serve the most vulnerable—especially innocent children who are the most vulnerable.  

In the conversations around conflict in the Middle East, there’s a lot of passion. Much of it motivated by love and deep concern for human life. But as Christians, we need to be firstly formed by the Prince of Peace. And as such this means affirming the dignity of every human—because every human has been made in the image of God.  

We are, all of us, made for creativity and for connection. But we’re all living in a broken world, longing—groaning—for the restoration of all things. And this surely means restoration of all, from every side in any conflict. All are invited into liberation to live in the fullness of life God intends.  

As Reverend Dr Graham Joseph Hill put it potently recently, ‘As Christians, our faith bids us to stand in the crack where grief meets hope. We mustn’t stand for any violence, but for a vision of people made in the divine image. The cross holds no nation; it holds brokenness, and it holds both Israelis and Palestinians.‘

Jesus did, of course, ultimately take the side we all needed him to take. He was, and is, the Messiah and through the gift of his life he became the salvation of the whole world. To this day, even in our polarised and divided world, he’s the one who is reconciling all things. And he calls us to join him in the practice of restorative justice, which is a far cry from an eye for an eye.  

Please join us as we continue to pray and hope for lasting peace and for an end to centuries-old division so that all peoples may live in the fullness of life God intends.