Be Perfect
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Daily Reading: Matthew 5:43 – 48
Focus Passage:
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:43 – 48)
Jesus holds the tension between neighbor and enemy, evil and good, righteous and unrighteous, “your own people” and “pagans.” Most of us see those poles as options, making a choice from each pair. In some religious systems, even God is viewed as making a choice, favoring the neighbor, the good, and the righteous.
But it was not so for Jesus. He didn’t arbitrarily divide the world between the haves and the have-nots, the good and the bad, the holy ones and the sinners. Jesus didn’t see persons as “enemies” or as “unrighteous.” He saw persons who were broken and in need of God’s healing. He noticed how people were incomplete and in need of wholeness. He saw lives that were divided and he worked for their union.
One of my favorite theologians insists that Jesus never met a “sinner.” Rather, Jesus saw everyone he met as sons and daughters of God who each were in need of healing.
Ultimately, God is not just a human person writ large, with super-special capabilities. God acts in ways we cannot fully comprehend. God’s generous love is extended to all people, even the “enemies” and the ones who “persecute” others. God’s extravagant giving extends to the evil and the good, to the righteous and the unrighteous. We may not be able to imagine it so, but this gratuity is a part of the nature of God. It is what makes God God.
This kind of generous love is distinctly characteristic of God. It means that God is perfectly God. “Perfect” (in Greek, teleios) means “complete,” or “whole.” It suggests that a person or thing is entirely what it is supposed to be, completely and wholly itself.
Thus, Jesus’ words in v. 48 do not mean that we are supposed to be gods: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It means that just as God is fully and wholly God, so we are each designed to be fully and wholly the person God created us to be.
My life is only complete and whole as I live into God’s intention for Jerry, not God’s intention for you or for anyone else. When I live fully into my God-intended design, I am “perfect” and whole. In that sense I follow God’s lead, I am “perfect as God is perfect.”
What does it mean for me to live into my God-intended design? It means that I grow to offer the same love God offers and hold the same tensions God holds. It means that I drop the descriptors which label some as righteous and some as unrighteous, some as neighbor and some as enemy, some as evil and some as good. God-like love offers itself to neighbors and enemies, the evil and the good.
I know all this sounds like an unattainable goal; however, you and I were created for this very life . . . the life with God for which we were intended.
For Reflection:
Make a point today to notice the people you see, to truly be aware of the persons you encounter at the grocery store, in the parking lot, at the soccer game, or as you volunteer.
In this intentional act of awareness, be mindful of the way in which you see the other person. That is, rather than observing the person based on a description of their physical appearance . . . or a cursory analysis of their race . . . or a judgment about the kind of person they are based on their dress . . . or an evaluation of their character based on their behavior . . . try instead to see each person as a son or daughter of God who is broken and in need of healing. Leave aside other judgments.
For one day, simply see the other through this basic, fundamental lens without other commentary.
And while you’re at it, drop all the other descriptive catagories for yourself, too. You, also, are a son of God . . . a daughter of God . . . one who needs healing. Be whole, wholly yourself, just as God is wholly Godself.
Daily Reading: Matthew 5:43 – 48
Focus Passage:
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:43 – 48)
Jesus holds the tension between neighbor and enemy, evil and good, righteous and unrighteous, “your own people” and “pagans.” Most of us see those poles as options, making a choice from each pair. In some religious systems, even God is viewed as making a choice, favoring the neighbor, the good, and the righteous.
But it was not so for Jesus. He didn’t arbitrarily divide the world between the haves and the have-nots, the good and the bad, the holy ones and the sinners. Jesus didn’t see persons as “enemies” or as “unrighteous.” He saw persons who were broken and in need of God’s healing. He noticed how people were incomplete and in need of wholeness. He saw lives that were divided and he worked for their union.
One of my favorite theologians insists that Jesus never met a “sinner.” Rather, Jesus saw everyone he met as sons and daughters of God who each were in need of healing.
Ultimately, God is not just a human person writ large, with super-special capabilities. God acts in ways we cannot fully comprehend. God’s generous love is extended to all people, even the “enemies” and the ones who “persecute” others. God’s extravagant giving extends to the evil and the good, to the righteous and the unrighteous. We may not be able to imagine it so, but this gratuity is a part of the nature of God. It is what makes God God.
This kind of generous love is distinctly characteristic of God. It means that God is perfectly God. “Perfect” (in Greek, teleios) means “complete,” or “whole.” It suggests that a person or thing is entirely what it is supposed to be, completely and wholly itself.
Thus, Jesus’ words in v. 48 do not mean that we are supposed to be gods: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It means that just as God is fully and wholly God, so we are each designed to be fully and wholly the person God created us to be.
My life is only complete and whole as I live into God’s intention for Jerry, not God’s intention for you or for anyone else. When I live fully into my God-intended design, I am “perfect” and whole. In that sense I follow God’s lead, I am “perfect as God is perfect.”
What does it mean for me to live into my God-intended design? It means that I grow to offer the same love God offers and hold the same tensions God holds. It means that I drop the descriptors which label some as righteous and some as unrighteous, some as neighbor and some as enemy, some as evil and some as good. God-like love offers itself to neighbors and enemies, the evil and the good.
I know all this sounds like an unattainable goal; however, you and I were created for this very life . . . the life with God for which we were intended.
For Reflection:
Make a point today to notice the people you see, to truly be aware of the persons you encounter at the grocery store, in the parking lot, at the soccer game, or as you volunteer.
In this intentional act of awareness, be mindful of the way in which you see the other person. That is, rather than observing the person based on a description of their physical appearance . . . or a cursory analysis of their race . . . or a judgment about the kind of person they are based on their dress . . . or an evaluation of their character based on their behavior . . . try instead to see each person as a son or daughter of God who is broken and in need of healing. Leave aside other judgments.
For one day, simply see the other through this basic, fundamental lens without other commentary.
And while you’re at it, drop all the other descriptive catagories for yourself, too. You, also, are a son of God . . . a daughter of God . . . one who needs healing. Be whole, wholly yourself, just as God is wholly Godself.
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