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After Jesus has just told His followers to never seek personal retaliation on others, He takes it a little further. You see, Jesus did not bring anything different than what was taught in the Old Testament, He just clarified the standard. He was interested in making sure people understood that it isn't just important to look good on the outside, but also to be certain that a person's heart matched their actions. It is so easy for someone to fool everyone into thinking that they are righteous by their outward actions, but in reality their heart is far from God - the outward is just a show, an act! Jesus wants our hearts more than anything and in these verses He raises the standard of love. Apparently the religious crowd of that day had no problem loving their own friends. Leviticus 19:18 proclaimed that a person should love their neighbor as themselves. Jesus also repeated this as the second great commandment (Matthew 22:39), but the scribes and Pharisees had added their own take on this commandment. In verse 43 Jesus addresses what they had heard from the religious people - love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Jesus begins to unfold the real meaning of loving your neighbor. Loving others is not only about embracing your friends and family, but also those who you would typically push away because of something they've said or done to you. Jesus says it like this..."love your enemies." He defines how we can love our enemies: encourage those who cut you down, do good to those who dislike you, and pray for people who take advantage and mock you. That is a high standard! It comes so natural for me to love those closest to me, but only with God's help can I love those who treat me like dirt. God knows that we need Him to enable us to love even our enemies and we must surrender to Him. Jesus was careful to point out that even the worst people of society love their friends, but only His followers would demonstrate love to those who hated them (vv.46-47). After all, God demonstrated His love to us even when we were undeserving of His forgiveness (Romans 5:8) and He will not accept any less from us. How about the person in your family who has become your enemy? How about the friend at school who stabbed you in the back? How about the fellow employee at work who let you down? How about the person who has differing political views? How about the murderer and the child molester? How about the person who hates you more than anyone else? Jesus says to love your enemy...not just by saying it, but also by blessing them, doing good to them, and praying for them.