To you who hear, I say,  "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." In the Sermon on the Plain (the Beatitudes) which was the content of last Sunday’s Gospel Reading, we saw Jesus making a revelation that one of the things that will characterize the in-breaking of the kingdom of God whose inauguration he was preaching is the reversal of the earthly fortunes. Whereas those whom Jesus extols in the beatitudes (the blessed) become favored by God not because of anything they have done or failed to do (rather, it is their condition that draws them close to God), those to whom the  woes were directed are threatened by God’s displeasure because of their failure to act. The latter group is made up of those who have been blinded by their present favorable condition to the extent of failing to recognize and appreciate the real values of God’s kingdom (complacency). It was a revelation that was definitely a shocker. It must have been difficult for the crowd to comprehend the  howand the  whys of the reversal. And as if he had not shocked them enough, Jesus went on to issue a set of instructions that were almost impossible to carry out. Yet, in these instructions were the requirements for discipleship. 
The first set of instruction concerns the compassionate love that a disciple of Jesus ought to extend to those whom he/she encounters, including those who would ordinarily be excluded from such a consideration (such as one’s perceived enemies). Although there is no teaching in the Old Testament that expressly called for the hatred of those perceived to be one’s enemies, the  Mosaiccommand to love was reserved for one’s “neighbor” (generally understood as one’s kin). And although aliens and foreigners living in the community were also to be accorded a fair, if not the same treatment (cf. Leviticus 19:34; Deuteronomy 10:19), those perceived to be enemies were not so lucky. Since an enemy was presumed to be be an evil individual with no good will towards the community, hatred of him/her was assumed to be right. We can thus imagine the crowd’s astonishment when Jesus proposed that those considered as enemies should be prayed for, blessed, and loved. Jesus was proposing a near impossibility. It is possible to turn the other cheek and tolerate those who are acting mean. But it is a totally different thing to ask one to love his/her enemy. It becomes even harder to pull it off bearing in mind the kind of love Jesus proposes: a merciful love in imitation of God. 
The love that Jesus requires of his disciples and which he demands that they extend to their perceived enemies is no ordinary love. It is a manner of loving that has been shown us by the Father  who though sinners we still were, sent his only Son to die in our stead (cf. Romans 5:8). To love in the manner of God’s merciful love is more than a show of good will (loving others from a distance). It demands getting involved in the life of the other. It requires that one invests the entirety of his/her being in the act. It is an act that will test the limits of a disciple. And although one might be prompted to say that it cannot be done since we are mere mortals, Jesus reminds us that we can do it because we are sons and daughters of God. We can love our enemies and pray for those who persecute  because we are children of our heavenly Father. 
We refer to God as our Father and rightly so for indeed he is. We come from God. And as sons and daughters of God, we have an obligation to reflect in our lives the fact that God is our Father. If our Father is generous in forgiveness and compassion, so should his sons and daughters. If God doesn’t count our sins against us (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:19; Ps 130:3), how can we count the sins of our brothers and sisters? God finds it easy to love than to count our sins and demands that we do the same. ‘ Love your neighbor and take no revenge against him/her. Harbor no grudge against your brother or sister and bear no hatred for him/her in your heart lest you be led to sin’ (cf. Leviticus 19:17-18).
Loving one’s enemies and praying for one's persecutors is Jesus solution to the problems of the world. For Jesus knows that if we were to repay each wrong by doing that has been exerted on us, then the world would be engulfed in chaos. God did not create chaos. If we are truly God’s sons and daughters, then we cannot be creators of chaos. Our call is to preserve the harmony that has been established by God our Father. A Christian has a calling that is unlike any other. It is a calling that will almost always demand going the extra mile. It is a calling that will demand achieving an almost impossible feat. And I think it is possible, not because Jesus did it (as we sometimes wrongly say), but because he promised to help us do it ( I will be with you till the end of time). It is with the help of Jesus that we can manage to live as sons and daughters of God. It is with the help of Jesus that we can shoulder the ‘burden’ that is our calling.