Luke 6:27-28: The Man in Her Van

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6:27-28 (NIV)

The Man in Her Van

The inside of an airport shuttle at the end of a shift smells like other people’s suitcases and the rain they brought in with them. There’s a stripe worn down the middle of the aisle, the overhead bins never quite latch, and the heater runs hot at the back and cold up front all year.

She drives it. On Monday a man stood on the curb with his hands in his pockets while she lifted his bags in, and when she was done he held out a coin. She took it and dropped it in the cup holder. She drove her loop the rest of the day, went home, ate, slept, and he was in the van when she got in on Tuesday, and he has ridden behind her all week.

On Thursday a girl in the third row announced that the van smelled like her grandmother’s basement. Her whole family came apart laughing, and so did she, and the girl looked pleased with herself the rest of the way to the terminal.

Jesus has been pronouncing woes on the rich and the well fed, and then he turns to the ones listening aimed at the rich, the well fed, and the ones everybody speaks well of. Jesus turns to them. They have enemies they could name. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

There are four of them, and she can start any one of them this morning. She can wish the man well without feeling it, and she can say his name to God on the empty loop back to the terminal, and she can do both before she has stopped minding him at all.

But to you who are listening. She’s the one in the van tonight, with four things in front of her and a man riding behind.