Mid-century illustration of a calm sea at dawn

Luke 6:35 · World English Bible

Luke 6:35 Meaning But Love Your Enemies

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.

What does Luke 6:35 mean?

To love the enemy while hoping for nothing in return is to give without the ego's bargain, which always lends in order to bind and calls the debt love. Real giving keeps no ledger, because it recognizes there is no separate other to be paid back; the gift and the receiver are one, and the reward is simply the remembering of that oneness.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Luke 6:35 through 2 lenses

The same verse, read by 2 traditions.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

To love the enemy while hoping for nothing in return is to give without the ego's bargain, which always lends in order to bind and calls the debt love. Real giving keeps no ledger, because it recognizes there is no separate other to be paid back; the gift and the receiver are one, and the reward is simply the remembering of that oneness.

The Father is kind to the unthankful because love does not weigh who deserves it. A mind that loves this way discovers what it already is, a child of the same source, no longer earning by exchange what was given whole from the start.

Enemy: the mind's projected guilt wearing a brother's face, the figure fear sets at a distance to attack Children of the Highest: the truth of what the mind already is beneath the dream of separation, innocent and wholly loved

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BUDDHISM

Buddhism

Mettā: Loving-kindness Mettā is the wish for every being to be safe and well. "Love ye your enemies" marks the hardest place to send that wish, and so the place it proves itself. Turn goodwill toward the one who wronged you the way a fire gives its warmth to anyone who steps close and never asks who they are. This is a wish you can choose to send even on a day the warm feeling never arrives.

Cāga: Open-handed giving Cāga is the open hand that gives and lets go. "Lend, hoping for nothing again" quietly turns a loan into a gift, because once you drop the hope of getting it back there is nothing left to collect. Ordinary lending keeps one eye on the ledger; an open hand closes the book and walks away.

Puñña: Merit Puñña is the good that a kind act stores up for the one who does it. Here is the paradox of "hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great": a gift handed over with a string attached only ever pulls back the small thing tied to that string. Cut the string, and what can return has no ceiling, so the surest road to a great reward is to quit reaching for one.

Upekkhā: Equanimity Upekkhā is the even mind that offers the same goodwill to everyone. "He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil" points to a warmth that has stopped dividing people into those who earned it and those who did not. Let your care fall like sunlight that reaches the grateful neighbor and the sour one in the same hour, steady whether or not a thank-you comes back.

Brahmavihāra: The divine abidings Brahmavihāra means the dwelling of Brahmā, the home of the Most High. "Ye shall be the children of the Highest" lands right here: whoever pours out love without limit comes to live where Brahmā lives and grows into that likeness. A child takes after a parent, and a heart that loves its enemies and gives freely is already moving toward that house.

Christian Psychology lens

Live Luke 6:35 today

  1. Do one small useful thing today that nobody will ever know you did. Let the not being thanked be the point rather than the cost.
  2. When you help someone, drop the quiet expectation that they now owe you attention or agreement. Help that comes with terms was never quite help.
  3. When someone is rude to you, in traffic, at a counter, in your inbox, hand them a normal human kindness anyway. Not because they earned it, just because that is what you are doing today.

Who am I still quietly billing for something I called a gift?

The same truth in other traditions

Tao Te Ching 81

The wise give without keeping accounts and are never emptied by it. Giving that counts is trade, giving that forgets is abundance.

Buddhism · Dana

The cleanest giving leaves no trace of a giver, a receiver, or a debt. What makes it generous is exactly the absence of the ledger.

Judaism · Maimonides

Among the highest forms of giving is the one where neither side knows the other. No gratitude can be collected, because none was being sought.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

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