Perfect?
Perfect?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
~Matthew 5:48
Why would Jesus say this? When we think of perfect. images come to us of everything just wonderfully laid out, executed without a hitch, morally upright, beautiful, etc.... On the other hand, when we think perfect, we also think, "no such thing." I remember my mother saying to me, when I was being unusaully hard on myself, "It is ok,no-one's perfect." So, who do I believe, Jesus or my mother? Fortunately, that's not the choice.
Jesus says, to be perfect as God is perfect. This doesn't mean make no mistakes. Nor does it mean be harsh with yourself and others. No, no. God's perfection is that of an accepting and open heart. God's perfection rests in accepting our situation in life to be precisely what it is, rather than what we might imagine it to be if things were "perfect." We find Jesus loving his enemies, praying for those who persecute. We find Jesus walking the extra mile and turning the other cheek. If acceptance means living life as it is, rather than how we might like it to be we find that we cannot escape our lives as they are. So, we might have enemies, We could hate them and fight them. That's one option as we try to get rid of them or change them into friends. Or it could be that we consider ourselves our own worst enemy, thinking poorly of ourselves and fighting to make ourselves better, or perfect. Usually as we fight our enemies or as we fight the forces within ourselves, nothing improves. We cannot make our lives conform to some external standard of what is perfect. Nor can we lay a trip upon ourselves saying that God wants this world to be perfect so I will lay my enemy to waste. God's perfection rests in openness and acceptance. We might pray, O God, I have made a terrible mistake. God might then speak as my mother did long ago, "That's ok. No one's perfect."
Jesus summed this up in his saying in John, "Love one another as I have loved you." We'll talk more about this on Sunday.
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
~Matthew 5:48
Why would Jesus say this? When we think of perfect. images come to us of everything just wonderfully laid out, executed without a hitch, morally upright, beautiful, etc.... On the other hand, when we think perfect, we also think, "no such thing." I remember my mother saying to me, when I was being unusaully hard on myself, "It is ok,no-one's perfect." So, who do I believe, Jesus or my mother? Fortunately, that's not the choice.
Jesus says, to be perfect as God is perfect. This doesn't mean make no mistakes. Nor does it mean be harsh with yourself and others. No, no. God's perfection is that of an accepting and open heart. God's perfection rests in accepting our situation in life to be precisely what it is, rather than what we might imagine it to be if things were "perfect." We find Jesus loving his enemies, praying for those who persecute. We find Jesus walking the extra mile and turning the other cheek. If acceptance means living life as it is, rather than how we might like it to be we find that we cannot escape our lives as they are. So, we might have enemies, We could hate them and fight them. That's one option as we try to get rid of them or change them into friends. Or it could be that we consider ourselves our own worst enemy, thinking poorly of ourselves and fighting to make ourselves better, or perfect. Usually as we fight our enemies or as we fight the forces within ourselves, nothing improves. We cannot make our lives conform to some external standard of what is perfect. Nor can we lay a trip upon ourselves saying that God wants this world to be perfect so I will lay my enemy to waste. God's perfection rests in openness and acceptance. We might pray, O God, I have made a terrible mistake. God might then speak as my mother did long ago, "That's ok. No one's perfect."
Jesus summed this up in his saying in John, "Love one another as I have loved you." We'll talk more about this on Sunday.
posted by David at Thursday, February 17, 2011
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