Perfect

"Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." This is the way that this coming Sunday's Gospel passage (Matthew 5:38-48) ends. On the surface Jesus appears to be calling his followers who were listening to this portion of the Sermon on the Mount into an error-free existence. To our modern ears we may believe that Jesus calls us too into a life without sin, but if we are being honest none of us is anywhere close to being without error or sin.

I do not have to go very far into most days before I am doing something that reminds me that I am NOT perfect. While I do not typically use this kind of language I work with someone who does, we are all miserable sinners. It's true, even if I also want to hold up the Biblical truth that we were made "very good" and we are "very good." Still would Amazing Grace be such a profound song that has stood the test of time without the lines, "Save a wretch like me," "I once was lost," as well as the claim of being spiritually and otherwise blind? So if we are anything but perfect why would Jesus challenge those listening to be perfect?

Being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect does not require that we do everything a particular way walking through life afraid that we may make a mistake. This is not the seventh inning of a perfect game when we can not talk about what is transpiring for fear of jinxing the pitcher. Our Parent in heaven is blameless, without sin, and yet God's perfection has another element that we need remember when approaching what Jesus said. God's nature is completely fulfilled. In other words, in God's nature is absolute unto God's self!

It took us some time to get to this understanding as Christian people, and we express this completely unique completeness when we talk about the Trinity. Within God exists a community of love, self-giving, opening, making room for the other, and being vulnerable that is complete. God needn't rely on anyone but God; however, out of love God created all things, including us. When we rely upon the ways of the world or our own way we inevitably feel let down or incomplete. Jesus described these paths of stumbling saying "You have heard that it was said...", and whether it was anger, lust, or lying in last week's Gospel or vengeance, selfishness, or holding grudges in this week's this way is incomplete.

This authentic type of perfection calls us to rely completely upon God. We may not get our cloak back, but God will provide. We may lose friends who think we are not loyal to their cause, but God will provide. We may face hardship, struggle, persecution, or even death, but God will provide (and bring us into the fullness of life). This perfect way of God not only sometimes seems unappealing or difficult, but it also can seem so foolish. Paul wrote about this in this week's Epistle lesson. Strangely enough I think that life sometimes makes us fools, so that we may rely more fully not on ourselves, but on God. So as you go through your day look for the places where you are relying too much on yourself, and instead lean into God's fulfilling way. It may seem foolish, but God's perfect ways so often do.