(1Sm.26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23; Ps.103:1-4,8,10,12-13; 1Cor.15:45-49; Lk.6:27-38) "Who can lay hands on the Lord's anointed and remain unpunished?" This does David say of Saul the king of Israel – of him who has come into the desert to hunt David down and kill him – even as he stands beside a sleeping Saul, well able to "nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear." But even though it seems that "God has delivered [his] enemy into [David's] grasp," he foregoes the opportunity, humbly respecting him whom God has ordained. Thus does he presage Christ's own teaching to "love your enemies." It is so in the heavenly teaching of the Lord that we who are to be like "the second man, from heaven," and not like "the first [who] was from earth, earthly"; it is so that if we are to hear His words and be like Christ Himself – and who else is there to be like? – we must treat all men as David treats Saul, as if God's anointing is upon them. All must be respected as blessed by God; all must be loved as His children. Even if they hunt us down and kill us, even if they take all things from us, yet we must pray for their souls… for still God's blessing is upon them, and we must bless them with Him. Brothers and sisters, "He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked." Do you see this? Though in the end He will judge (and not we), yet nothing cuts short the love of God; no act of man keeps him from the Lord's abundant grace. And we must "be merciful, just as [our] Father is merciful," if we hope to come into His kingdom and look upon His face. For only those who are of Him enter there. If you love as a sinner loves, if you love like an earthly man, with an earthly mind and an earthly heart, expecting something in return, how can you hope to be where He is, He who does not measure His love in earthly terms? Unending is His love, surpassing all and overwhelming all in its infinite greatness… and will you count the pennies that you offer? You need only look upon the cross, upon the corpus fixed firmly there, to see the love to which you are called: you must "bear the image of the heavenly" man. And you need only look clearly at what the Lord has done in your own life, He who "pardons all your iniquities, [who] heals all your ills," to understand His call. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He put our transgressions from us." And should we not do the same for others who have sinned against us, who have nailed us to the tree? Or would you fall short of His love? "Merciful and gracious is the Lord," and if He does not "requite us according to our crimes" but treats us "as a father [who] has compassion on his children," so all men should be as the Lord's blessed children in our eyes. Written, Read, and Chanted by James Kurt. Music: "True Love" from Loving Spirit, third album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, help us to love our enemies even as your Son has done for all of us sinners. YHWH, you are gracious and merciful, but we are weak and sinful. How shall we be like you? How shall we bear the image of your Son? How shall we move from being earthly to heavenly men? Indeed, it is only by your mercy. O LORD, we must reflect your great mercy if we are to find the mercy we so desperately need for our own souls. And sharing in this mercy of yours is mercy itself, is your greatest gift to us, your poor creatures. What more could we hope for than to be like you? For what more could we ask than to be of your love? You it is who pardon all our iniquities, who spare sinful man. Though our deeds against you deserve death, though for our crimes we merit destruction – though we should be nailed to the ground with one thrust of your spear, we are freed from such a fate by your Son's sacrifice on the Cross… and we are called to join Him there. Forgive all who sin against us, LORD, that we might be saved.