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(1Sm.26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23;\xa0\xa0 Ps.103:1-4,8,10,12-13;\xa0\xa0 1Cor.15:45-49;\xa0\xa0 Lk.6:27-38) \u201cWho can lay hands on the Lord\u2019s anointed \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0\xa0and remain unpunished?\u201d \xa0\xa0 \xa0 \xa0This does David say of Saul the king of Israel \u2013 of him who has come into the desert to hunt David down and kill him \u2013 even as he stands beside a sleeping Saul, well able to \u201cnail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear.\u201d But even though it seems that \u201cGod has delivered [his] enemy into [David\u2019s] grasp,\u201d he foregoes the opportunity, humbly respecting him whom God has ordained. Thus does he presage Christ\u2019s own teaching to \u201clove your enemies.\u201d \xa0 \xa0 \xa0It is so in the heavenly teaching of the Lord that we who are to be like \u201cthe second man, from heaven,\u201d and not like \u201cthe first [who] was from earth, earthly\u201d; it is so that if we are to hear His words and be like Christ Himself \u2013 and who else is there to be like? \u2013 we must treat all men as David treats Saul, as if God\u2019s 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\u2026 for still God\u2019s blessing is upon them, and we must bless them with Him. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Brothers and sisters, \u201cHe Himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.\u201d 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\u2019s abundant grace. And we must \u201cbe merciful, just as [our] Father is merciful,\u201d 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\u2026 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 \u201cbear the image of the heavenly\u201d man. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0And you need only look clearly at what the Lord has done in your own life, He who \u201cpardons all your iniquities, [who] heals all your ills,\u201d to understand His call. \u201cAs far as the east is from the west, so far has He put our transgressions from us.\u201d 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? \u201cMerciful and gracious is the Lord,\u201d and if He does not \u201crequite us according to our crimes\u201d but treats us \u201cas a father [who] has compassion on his children,\u201d so all men should be as the Lord\u2019s 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. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0YHWH, 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. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0O 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? \xa0 \xa0 \xa0You 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 \u2013 though we should be nailed to the ground with one thrust of your spear, we are freed from such a fate by your Son\u2019s sacrifice on the Cross\u2026 and we are called to join Him there. Forgive all who sin against us, LORD, that we might be saved.