“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Today’s Gospel continues Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:28). Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel is the most challenging of all his teachings: “Love your enemy…Be perfect.”
In this section of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is giving his interpretation of the Torah, the Old Testament (5:21-48). The Torah prescribes: “Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your own people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18). While the Torah does not teach hatred of enemies some Jewish contemporaries of Jesus interpreted it this way. Jesus commands not hatred but love: “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.” Why? Because this is what God does, “he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” If God shows this bountiful even prodigal love to all, both the good and the bad, so also should we. Jesus tells us this is God’s will and God’s way. This way is the way of perfection.
When Jesus calls us to be perfect just as God is perfect, he is asking us to be merciful and loving just like God. Jesus is not telling us we need to be perfect in the sense of never making a mistake. Look at the first disciples, they were always making mistakes and misunderstanding Jesus’ words and actions. Luke’s version of this saying captures the correct meaning of perfection: “Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
Jesus’ words are a challenge to all of us today. We are all aware of the polarization in our modern society. Jesus calls us to be godlike and see the goodness in the other and try to understand their different points of view. While we may disagree, even strongly at times, we must always do this in a loving and reconciling way. Vicious attacks and demonizing of the other is not the way of God that Jesus shows us. Let us strive to be perfect today, to be loving and compassionate.
Image: “The Dead Sea Scrolls – Psalms Scroll” by On Being is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.