Be Perfect.  Matthew 5.48

Perfect   

What do you think of when you first see the word ‘perfect’?  Excepting God Almighty—that is, not including him-- Do you see a big smile with a row of sparkling white, straight teeth?  Or a well-sculpted body with little body fat?  Or does your mind go to moral uprightness?  The innocence of a newborn child?  Something or someone that ideally suits your needs?  The grade of 100% on the top of your homework?  What does perfect mean to you?  Does it affect you emotionally in any way?  Hmmm…

Perfect Adjective  1. ?having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be

??2. ?absolute; complete¹

The last sermon section we were considering concluded with Jesus saying,  But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. 

Was Jesus serious?!  How could we ever be perfect like God the Father?  Wasn’t he setting the bar so impossibly high, we wouldn’t even consider trying to reach it?  Honestly, I almost dismissed the verse, thinking, ‘uh huh, that’s a nice goal, but totally unattainable,’ and read on to the next chapter.  But then …

I looked up the Greek word for perfect that Jesus used, and suddenly I knew it was a new day for Matthew 5.48.  The Greek word for ‘perfect’ that Jesus used was ‘teleios’.  It means ‘maturing or coming to completion’, such as the word James used in James 1.2-4. Telios   The Greek word for perfect most ideally means ‘achieving the purpose for which something was planned’.  Now let’s look at the verse again.  Better stated, Jesus was using perfect here to mean: ‘a thing is perfect if it fully realizes the purpose for which it was planned, designed and made.’² So, Jesus is saying, ‘You are to be perfect—achieving the purposes for which God created you—even as your Father in heaven is, has and will always be.’ 

This verse was the capstone on Jesus’ teaching about what fulfilling the Law looked like to him, ending with how love looks from his side of the fence.   I say, love your enemies! Which reminds me of a scene in the E.R.—a lady had come in with a problem, and in short order it was determined she had rabies.  The nurse left the room to get something and when she came back in, found the lady making a list.  Thinking she was making out her will, she said, ‘Oh, Ma’am, this isn’t fatal!’  ‘Yes, I know—I am making a list of who I want to bite!’  Why?  She had enemies.  Not Jesus’ way.  Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.  Once again, Jesus is referring to how distinct we should be—salt and light in an oft-dark world—particularly in the area of love for other people, and especially when it might not be natural to love.

This fits.  We remember that God said, “Let us make man in our own image.”³  And so we were!  Thus, we were made to love like God—a much higher standard than what is maybe common to us.  Jesus spoke of loving our enemies and those who persecute us … not at all common or even logical to love either.  Becoming perfect in loving will require of us:  

awareness,

  intention,

    discipline,

      tenacity, 

        humility,

          selflessness,

           grace,

              insight,

               empathy,  care for other people—giving to their causes

                                MB2 group lost, found.  

loyalty,

                   prayer that God will help us be more loving,

                    and caring enough to really SEE, like Jesus saw,

which makes Jesus our perfect role model, and substantiates why we must seek to know about him, about his life, how he loved, and how he loves us NOW, individually and creatively. 

Suddenly, perhaps PERFECT is now at least somewhat attainable.  What do you think?

Christine

1 – ‘perfect’ Wiki dictionary

2 – William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume One

3 – Genesis 1.26