A King once came to a remote and poor village. The villagers were weary and had treated their children as slave labor. These children had nothing more than work to look forward to day after day.
When the King gathered the people of his village, he told them he replaced one of their children with one of his own and that one day he would return to check on his royal child.
The people were petrified that when the King came back he would find his child's living conditions lacking. They were in a panic that he may lash out at his child's inept guardians.So they built schools for the first time. They greatly improved medical care such as it was. They treated each child as though they were of Royal blood not knowing which child actually was.
They did not spoil the children but instead raised them as if they had the rich potential that royals were so infamous for(or at least the better angels of their nature)like leading, planning, and serving their community.
By investing in their children as if their future, or even their lives depended on it, their community flourished.
And then as those children grew to raise children of their own, the old King returned to the village.
The old King gathered the people together and praised not just their efforts but their successes. He said we was grateful and proud to have a child of his own raised with such love, consideration, and compassion.
As the old King walked through the village admiring the improvements and community, an old woman approached him. She asked "Who was your child? It was my little girl wasn't it? I have somehow always known. Which was your child o' King?"
The old King turned and said "All of them. They were all my children."
We are all of us, every last one of us, children of God. If the villagers could not have persecuted their children and claim to love their King then how can any of us persecute one another and claim to love God? How can we hate, mutilate, persecute, rape, murder, ostracize, disown or otherwise perpetrate evil against any of God's children and at the same time claim to love Him?
"21 Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing."
Jesus here is comparing hate to murder because if you do not first dehumanized your victim then they may become a martyr and soon you go from one enemy to thousands. Hate is the first step to murder. And if enough hate is spread murder leads more murder and the it leads to slaughters and it can even lead to genocide.
But none of that is possible without hate.
Jesus compares lust to adultery and hate to murder but how does he insist we should treat one another?
"43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Jesus is saying that if you are only good to those who are good to you then you are no better than common criminals who live by that same ethos. To truly be righteous you are asked to be loving to those who are hateful to you just as Christ Himself was in His life.
We are to do more than love our neighbors, we are to love our enemies, those who hate us and/or want to kill us.
But here's where Christ really drives this point home when asked to choose the greatest of all commandments Jesus selected two:
"30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
When asked to pick the single greatest commandment Jesus selects two. Why? Because you cannot fulfill one without the other. How can one truly love God if one hates even one of God's children? How can one hate what God has created and claim to love their creator?
People tend to behave in the manner in which they are treated. Those who kill easily can only do so because they themselves have been dehumanized. Those who have compassion are usually those who have been treated compassionately.
Think of the roughest parts of town near you. When people are treated like animals they tend to act like animals. And people in the poorest parts of town usually are not treated as royalty. Usually the treatment they face is inhumane, barbaric, and abusive.
These people then act out and reflect the treatment they themselves have received.
Whereas the children of the village in my story were treated as royalty and grew up to reflect that treatment.
