But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
This verse is part of Jesus' most famous extended teaching, recorded in Luke as the 'Sermon on the Plain,' where he speaks to a large crowd and systematically dismantles the logic of transactional love — help people who will help you back, love people who love you. Jesus says that's not enough. Here he pushes further: love the people actively working against you, do good to them, and lend without any expectation of repayment. The reason he gives is the most surprising part: this is what God himself does, extending kindness even to people who are ungrateful and wicked. To be a 'son of the Most High' — meaning a child of God — is to mirror that character, and the reward Jesus mentions isn't just a future prize but the deep alignment that comes from living the way your Father actually lives.
God, you know exactly who I'm thinking about right now. Help me want to love them — even when I don't. Remind me that your kindness reached me when I wasn't grateful for it, and give me something real to give them from what you've already given me. Amen.
Most of us have no problem loving enemies in the abstract. It's the specific person — the coworker who took credit for your work, the family member who turned others against you, the old friend whose betrayal you still replay at inconvenient moments — where this becomes almost physically impossible. Jesus doesn't offer a softer version or a workaround. He says: love them, do good to them, lend without expecting it back. And then he gives you the reason that changes everything: because God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Not the grateful. Not the deserving. The wicked. That means God's kindness has reached you in moments when you were the ungrateful one, the difficult one, possibly even the one in the wrong. And Jesus says: *now do that for someone else.* This isn't about pretending the hurt didn't happen or that the person is safe. It's about refusing to let their worst behavior become the ceiling of your best. You don't have to manufacture warm feelings. But you can choose to act with generosity anyway — and in doing so, you'll look more like God than you ever could by only loving the lovable.
When Jesus says 'enemies,' who in your own life honestly fits that description — and what makes it hard to even acknowledge that someone belongs in that category?
Jesus says God is kind to 'the ungrateful and wicked' — does knowing that make you feel comforted, unsettled, or something more complicated, and why?
Is there a meaningful difference between loving someone and liking them — and how does that distinction help or complicate what Jesus is actually asking here?
How does the way you treat people who have wronged you affect the people who are watching — your children, your coworkers, your friends who know the story?
What would 'doing good' to one specific difficult person in your life look like in a concrete, practical way this week?
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.
Matthew 5:45
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Colossians 3:13
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;
Matthew 5:44
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another .
John 13:35
And be ye kind one to another , tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Ephesians 5:1
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
Proverbs 19:17
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:9
But love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; for your reward will be great (rich, abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High; because He Himself is kind and gracious and good to the ungrateful and the wicked.
AMP
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
ESV
'But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil [men].
NASB
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
NIV
But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
NKJV
“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.
NLT
"I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst.
MSG