I don't ever recall my own mother saying it, but many have told me it was a well-worn creed in their home that, "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all." Incomplete if not poor advice since it suggests that "not bothering about" someone that we don't care for, by keeping our mouths shut about their short-comings, still meets the minimum requirements of loving them...it does not.
We are certainly not to bad-mouth our neighbors or even our enemies. We are to pray for them...bless them. But simply rolling our eyes when their name is mentioned and repeating an old household tenet is far from fulfilling the John 15:12 commandment to love them. The most wrathful thing God ever did to those who had turned away from Him is to let them do so without bothering about them (Rom 1:22-24).
It is so easy to "write off" the unlikable as a "hopeless cause". But Jesus showed us a better way. Certainly, looking down from His throne upon mankind and sin, rather than humbling Himself and coming to earth as the atoning offering for our transgressions, He could have remained in His glory and said, "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all." But He loved us instead.
Conclusion to come...