Matthew 5:44: But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for He causes His son to shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Jesus’ instructions are radical, challenging. They are radical and challenging because Jesus is radical and challenging. And Jesus is radical and challenging because the heavenly Father, whose exact image He is, is radical and challenging.

The God Jesus reveals is the God who already has done all that He requires of us. He requires that we love our enemies, and He has already done that in sending rain and sunshine to those who hate Him, persecute Him, spitefully use Him. He requires us to do good to those who do us evil, and He has already done that. He requires us to extend our circle of love and welcome beyond our natural circle, and He has done the same, loving a world that was in rebellion against Him.

Ultimately, of course, this radical, challenging God is revealed in the Jesus’ final days, in His death and resurrection. As Paul says, we will hardly dare to die for a righteous man, but “God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God demonstrated His love in that “while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.”

That is the radical challenge of this table. This is the table of the God who sends rain and sunshine to those who hate Him. This is the table of the one who gave up His only-begotten Son for the sake of a world in rebellion against Him. This is the table that memorialized the death of His Son through which He was reconciling enemies to Himself.

And this is the family table for the sons of this God. We are here because of the reconciling death of Jesus. We are here because God has loved His enemies. And if we’re here – since we’re here – we are called to be like our Father, to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, return good for all evil, and overcome evil with good.