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Bible and life

Please explain: Luke 6:27 says, "But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." And later in Luke 19:27: "But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me."

The contradiction between the statements of the Lord Jesus Christ you cited is only apparent. In the first case, in a sermon addressed to the people, the Lord speaks directly about how a person lives in the Kingdom of Heaven. True life consists in loving people as Christ Himself loves us. We find the second statement, however, in the context of a parable, intended to figuratively (by definition – not literally) express and convey a certain thought to the listeners. Christ spoke this parable in the house of Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, whom all "pious" Jews considered a great sinner. The Lord is saying that he who bears fruit is pleasing to God. Those, however, who oppose Christ will not enter His Kingdom. Since life exists only in the Kingdom of Christ, then for those who refuse to accept it, only destruction remains. One should not take literally the severe intention that Christ places in the mouth of the king in the parable; here the Lord turns to an image familiar to the Jews so that the meaning of the parable would be clear to them. This is especially obvious considering that the parable is spoken immediately before Christ's entry into Jerusalem. The destruction of God's enemies consists in the fact that they remain far from God, the sole Source of life.

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