Sun Tzu is credited with the phrase, The enemy of my enemy is my friend, around the 6th century BC.  Within a few years, it made its way to what is now the Middle East and eventually to the Western world.  So, when Jesus talked about enemies and friends, people had a pre-conceived idea about how the two would typically interact.

But what He said was totally new to those He spoke to.   Jesus is quoted in both Matthew (22:39) and Mark (12:31) as saying, Love your neighbor as yourself.  And when Paul writes to the Romans (13:10), he emphasized that love does no harm to a neighbor.  And, who is our neighbor?  Luke quotes Jesus’s story of the Good Samaritan who, despite being despised by the Jewish people, saved and took care of one them at his own expense.  So those who we consider our enemies…