Wednesday, 20th Week of Ordinary Time

Matthew 5:38-48
The Daily Office

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48, Eng. Standard Version)
“In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” (Mt 5:48, The Message)
“There must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly Father’s goodness knows no bounds.” (Mt 5:48, Revised Eng. Bible)

This verse isn’t just difficult for disciples who might be wondering if Jesus is setting them up to fail.  As these three versions show, it is a difficult verse for translators.  The key word, the one that makes you gulp, of course, is “perfect.”  Today, we tend to define being perfect as being without any fault or weakness in any way.  But the Greek word here is telos, which also means, “complete, mature.”  It is that sense of maturity that Eugene Peterson captures in The Message.  More to the point, no one achieves maturity in the snap of a finger.  Jesus knows full well that for us, maturation is a process.  Jesus is not commanding us to be “perfect.”  He is, though, challenging us to grow up.

But grow toward what?  The REB helps us understand the other part of “perfection.”  Jesus has been telling his disciples that God’s goodness extends to all human beings.  Does not his warm sun shine on the evil as well as the good?  Does not his rain refresh the crops of the evil as well as the good?  There is no boundary to God’s goodness because there is also no boundary to God’s love, just as there is no boundary to God’s power.  There is no part of God’s creation that will not be subject to God’s judgment, and God’s love. 

Our calling as followers of Christ is not to wait around for Jesus to sock it to the evil, but to pray for them and work for their salvation.  Is that easy?  Of course not.  But all that Jesus asks of us today is that we put one foot in front of the other.  Is there someone from who you are estranged because an evil they have done to you?  Spend one minute thinking of that person, and try to think of them without one angry thought.  Keep doing that until you can sustain one minute without anger.  Then try two minutes, and so on.  You won’t forget the wrong they have done.  But in your heart, you will know just a little better the unlimited goodness of God.  One step at a time now.