Loving Your Enemy. Healing Your Heart.
Published January 18, 2026
Jesus calls us to the most challenging command of all: love your enemies. In this message from Johanna Kelly, we look at Matthew 5 and the parable of the Good Samaritan, which invites us into a radically different way of living - one rooted in mercy, accountability, and self-reflection - where love breaks cycles of harm and builds a kingdom of reconciliation.
Discussion Questions:
- When you hear Jesus say, “Love your enemies,” what emotions or resistance surface in you, and why?
- Who or what have you been tempted to label as “the enemy” in your own life (people, groups, systems, or ideas)?
- How does the parable of the Good Samaritan challenge your understanding of who belongs inside God’s kingdom?
- Have you ever had to set a boundary that felt unloving at the time but was actually an act of love? What did that look like?
- How does accountability play a role in loving someone who causes harm, without excusing or enabling that harm?
- Where might God be inviting you into deeper self-reflection to notice “the enemy within?”
- What does it mean to you that love is an action, not just a feeling, especially when love feels costly or uncomfortable?
- Can you think of a time when someone you least expected reflected God’s mercy or compassion to you?
- As you reflect on the Lord’s Table, who might God be inviting you to see, include, or extend radical compassion toward?