"Bless them that curse you." Lk. 6:28
In the same context in which one is enjoined by the Iesous to do good to those who are removed from us by hostility toward us another imperative is given.
We are told to bless (Gk. eulogeo: to speak well of) those that curse us. Again, one must not seek refuge in subtle or overt measures of retaliatory behavior. We must not revert to behavior that repays in like manner or escalate an emotional impasse because of a curse hurled upon us by another.
Contrary to an instinctive reaction of speaking a curse against those who curses us we are to speak well of them. In our text the word curse in the Greek is the term 'Kataraomai' and it means to wish ruin upon another person. It is an icy word filled with loathing and disgust for someone or a group of people.
The Iesous does not want those who seriously receive the words "Follow Me" to fail to realize that one's natural inclinations must be surrendered at the point of accepting the intrinsic invitation to follow him as a habit of life.
"Bless those that curse you," lifts following the Iesous out of the milieu of the merely intellectual and transports one into the qualitatively new world of spiritual wholeness wherein one does not live by reactionary defenses that shrinks one's humanity by feeding on the festering wounds of hostility toward those who desire our ruin.
Bless is the prescription of spiritual freedom from the desire to wish ruin in kind. Bless protects the heart and nourishes the spirit. Bless those that curse you is the formula for spiritual wellness. Bless retrains the focus of the heart to concentrate on appropriate emotions that secure our hearts.
Today you must begin the important journey of speaking well of those who have sought to curse you by terribly inappropriate speech actions or to undo your intrinsic humanity by destructive behavior. Stop continuing their efforts to harm you by investing in emotional reactions that perpetuate their attempt to curse you. Bless you.
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