Therefore, you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ~ JESUS (Matthew 5:48)
BEFORE WE BEGIN: I want to tell you about an exciting writing project I have the privilege of being a part of. It is a high quality passport-style booklet that gives an easy to understand overview of the key kingdom teaching of Jesus. I was invited to be part of a team that assembled the content and I am amazed at how the printed product has turned out. This is the document I always wish I had to help me review and share the Good News of Jesus.
If you are a regular supporter and you would like one, please send me a note with your mailing address and I will happily send you one without cost. Otherwise, you can now purchase your own "Freedom Passport" at this link here.
Okay, now on with the study...
SUMMARY: Read this and skip the rest (if you want)
Jesus' statement to be or become perfect is both a command and a promise.
The context helps us see that Jesus is talking about, not moral perfection, but mercy perfection. Jesus is calling his disciples to perfect love, which is unconditional.
This helps us understand how many of the Bible's characters, from the Patriarchs to Job to King David, could be considered righteous, even "blameless", yet still have so many flaws. Faith, expressing itself through love, is the righteousness God wants for us.
Jesus' moral philosophy stands out as different from other schools of thought in that Jesus places equal emphasis, not only on how to live right, but on how to recover when we fail to live right.
According to Jesus, becoming perfect is as easy as "ABC". Admit our sin. Believe in God's forgiveness. Commit to being merciful.
CORE
(The heart of the message)
Jesus leads us from mere religious holiness to relational wholeness. He is teaching us how to be "perfect" in mercy, not just morality.
CONTEXT
(What’s going on before and after this passage)
So far, throughout Matthew chapter 5, Jesus has been helping us discover the best way to be human.
Jesus has been laying out a pathway to the most wonderful life. Beginning with grace, mercy, and peace (the Beatitudes), instilling our infinite value (as salt in every conversation and as light to this dark world), calling us to a relational rather than religious righteousness (our sermon's thesis statement from Matthew 5:17-20), giving illustrations of real inner righteousness (the six antitheses), and ending with a high calling to love in practical, world-changing ways (the call to enemy-love).
"Above all, the Torah asks for love: thou shalt love thy God; thou shalt love thy neighbour. All observance is training in the art of love." ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel (God in Search of Man)
Now he summarizes his teaching with a kind of restatement of his thesis for the entire sermon: You shall be perfect.
This call to perfection comes right after talking about God's amazing enemy love, so we should approach the discussion of perfection in the context of perfect love.
Luke's parallel statement helps us understand Jesus' original intent:
"You shall be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." ~ JESUS (Luke 6:36)
Jesus spoke in Aramaic and the disciples wrote in Greek, the lingua franca of their day. (This is a fascinating decision to begin with - the disciples valued the Good News message and teaching of Jesus going far and wide more than they valued preserving the actual words of Jesus. So many implications to be found in this fact, but we will save that for another study.) So we can't say with certainty what precise word Jesus used for "perfect" in this passage - perhaps tamim (faultless) or salem (peacefully whole) or g'mar (complete/mature) - but whatever he said here, Matthew and Luke had slightly different ways of translating it, and we're glad they did. Together they help us get a more robust, stereophonic understanding of Jesus' intent.
Matthew: "We need to learn to be perfectly loving just like God loves all of us."
Luke: "Exactly! And in our fallen and failing world, that kind of love is going to take a lot of mercy."
Given the context of this passage - the final antithesis about enemy love, the full Sermon on the Mount, as well as Jesus' entire life and teachings - we could possibly paraphrase this line as:
Therefore, you shall find your healing and wholeness by giving yourself over fully to compassionate, merciful, unconditional love, just like your heavenly Father loves. ~ JESUS (Matthew 5:48, Paraphrase)
Or how about...
In light of God's unconditional enemy-including love, follow his example and be completely inclusive and embracing in your love. ~ JESUS (Matthew 5:48, Paraphrase)
CONSIDER
(Observations about the passage)
Therefore. As many a preacher has said: When we see the word "therefore" we should ask, What is it there for? Here the word "therefore" highlights for us that Christ's perfection teaching is not a disjointed, detached, out-of-the-blue idea. It is not an abstract goal or a philosophical puzzle just floating in the air all by itself. The word is used here to draw our attention back to all that Jesus has said so far and to bring this first section of the sermon to a close. Moreso, what Jesus says here about being perfect is tethered tightly to what he has just said immediately before: disciples of Jesus should love like God loves. This is our primary clue to understanding what Jesus means by being perfect.
"When Jesus speaks of 'perfection,' he is saying something about our 'love.'" ~ Addison Hodges Hart (Taking Jesus at his Word)
You shall be. Is this a promise or a command? Yes! The Greek phrase is a future indicative, which can be read both ways. This future verb can be read "You will be" (prophecy) or "You must be" (command). The wording literally reads as a promise/prophecy, but using a future statement as a command was common in Hebrew (e.g., the Ten Commandments use this phraseology). So translating it "You shall be" is an attempt at capturing the both/and idea embedded in this wording. Recall that Jesus has been making promises throughout the sermon so far: the gentle will inherit the earth, those who mourn will be comforted, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. A command with a promise, or a promise with an invitation to help bring it about - this is beautiful. Some translations wrongly highlight the command only ("Be perfect") and also omit the word "you", which is in the Greek text. (At least the old KJV retains it: Be ye perfect.) The "you" reminds us of something important: Jesus is talking to his disciples, not the eavesdropping crowd. It is followers of Jesus who should be following the Sermon on the Mount. We don't have to try to get our society to act more "Christian" - our job is to help the Church to act more Christian, and that should keep us busy for a very long time.
Perfect. There is a lot going on behind this one word. The Greek here is the adjective teleios (a form of the noun telos), meaning to reach our end goal, to become complete or whole, to grow to maturity, to finish what was started, to fully become what we were meant to be (e.g., see 1 Corinthians 14:20; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 5:14; 6:1). When a seed becomes a tree it attains its telos. When a little girl becomes a mature woman she reaches her telos. (This is how Josephus, one generation after Jesus, uses the word - to describe a child who has now become an adult.) Jesus is telling us to grow up, to become mature, to finish what God has begun in us. So why do most translations use the word "perfect"? It's complicated. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures that Jesus and his followers read in their day) uses telos to translate the Hebrew word tamim, used for the "blamelessness" of people (Genesis 6:9; 17:1; Deuteronomy 18:13; 2 Samuel 22:24, 26; Job 1:1) or a sacrifice being "without defect" (Leviticus 1:3 and throughout Leviticus and elsewhere). So at the time of Jesus, the telos family of words could mean "mature" or "complete" but could also mean "perfect" or "without anything wrong" as far as a specific task was concerned. Like today we might say to a job candidate "You're perfect for the job", or a couple in love might say "we're perfect for each other". So both tamim (Hebrew) and telos (Greek) mean something like perfect for a specific purpose. A sacrifice "without defect" was perfect for the task, not having any obvious blemish. A "blameless" person was wholehearted in their devotion, even if they made errors in judgement along the way. So, when the Bible says the man Job was "blameless" (Job 1:1), for instance, it does not mean he was morally perfect, since the Bible also says everyone sins (Romans 6:23; 5:12). Jesus cannot be referring to moral perfection in the sense of sinlessness, since the person who perfectly obeys the Sermon on the Mount will be someone who mourns over their own sin, hungers and thirsts for their own righteousness, is merciful because they know they need mercy, asks for and offers forgiveness for sins on a daily basis, deals with the plank in their own eye before helping others with their splinters, and who refuses to judge others knowing that they will be judged in kind. To be blameless or perfect or complete in biblical thinking is to have one's heart in the right place, to be walking the right path, similar to King David (more on David below). And remember the context of this use of the word: to be perfect here is tied back to loving unconditionally. N.T. Wright describes the perfect person as having "a character formed by overflowing generous love" (After You Believe). Luke's parallel statement helps us understand Jesus' meaning: "You shall be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36). The perfection Jesus calls his disciples to is not moral perfection but mercy perfection. (Or we could say mercy is a central ingredient in the morality of Jesus.) This is our end-goal. This is the teleios-ity that Jesus has in mind here. Jesus wants his disciples to unite together in a mercy movement more than a morality movement since morality without mercy always degenerates into legalism and judgmentalism. Readers of Matthew's Gospel have already encountered a striking example of this in the example of Joseph and his merciful reaction to (what he believed to be) Mary's moral failure. Joseph chose the path, not of law, but of mercy. (More about that in these studies here and here.) Jesus will return to this theme in his teaching in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7, where he quotes Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." And again in Matthew 18 where Jesus talks about pursuing the lost sheep and forgiving others the way God has forgiven us. Both Matthew and Luke are saying the same thing: Mercy is a big deal to Jesus. The fully mature human is a mercy-full human. Mercy is our goal, our purpose, our telos.
"To be perfect does not mean to be sinless, but simply to strive to fulfil one's purpose." ~ Joe Kapolyo (Africa Bible Commentary)
As your heavenly Father is perfect. This last line sets the standard as high as possible and it can seem overwhelming. Whether we interpret telos as "perfect" or "mature" or, according to Luke, "merciful", who can be as mature or merciful as God? Might as well give up and go home (or wherever you go to give up). To emphasize this high standard, Jesus uses the adjective "heavenly" to say in that God is holy, somehow above us, different to us. (Matthew is the only Gospel writer to use the adjective "heavenly" to refer to God.) Oh man, being God-like seems out of reach. And at the same time, there is more going on here: Jesus stresses that God is our "Father" in that he is close to us, wanting to lavish his love on us. "Heavenly Father" captures God's transcendence and imminence. This heavenly Father is perfect in all ways, including being perfectly gracious toward us while we struggle and often fail to meet his high standards. And through the Holy Spirit and his example left for us in Scripture, Jesus is here to help, every step of the way. As we discussed in our previous study, his goal for us to is be God-like in love, not to attempt to be God-like in judgement. Remember what the "therefore" is there for: Jesus has just finished telling us that our focus should be on loving all people like God. Come rain or come shine, we love. In fact, we love like the rain and the sun, which is to say, we love like God. Jesus says God loves all people equally, unconditionally, indiscriminately, and lavishly. Jesus is not just giving us a command to overwhelm us. He is dedicating his life, death, and life again to helping us live it out. So later he can return to the command to love like God loves with a modification, putting himself in the place of God:
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. ~ JESUS (John 13:34-35)
"So this pivotal teaching is not about idealistic moral perfection but about resembling God by including enemies in our mercy, compassion, and loving action, as God does." ~ David P. Gushee & Glen H. Stassen (Kingdom Ethics)
COMMENTARY
(Thoughts about meaning and application)
In the world of moral philosophy, there are a few popular schools of thought. The following is a drastic oversimplification, but it should help us all get the gist:
OUTCOME BASED ETHICS...
Consequentialism determines right and wrong based on whether the outcome of an action will be experienced as positive or negative.
"Billy don't bite your sister!"
"Why?"
"Because she might bite you back! Besides, you won't get any dessert after supper if you do it again."
Utilitarianism asks the question: What will lead to the greatest happiness?
"Billy don't bite your sister!"
"Why?"
"Because it makes her and mommy unhappy! We will all be a happier family if we don't bite one another."
CONSENSUS BASED ETHICS...
Contractualism and Discourse Ethics see human morals as ideas we invent and agree on to aid relational reliability within a social group. Together we decide something is right or wrong so we can have predictability and stability as a society.
"Billy don't bite your sister!"
"Why?"
"Because our family has decided to be a no-biting family."
"But Johnny's family bite each other!"
"That's fine for them. Who are we to judge? But we don't bite."
PRINCIPLE BASED ETHICS...
Deontology and Natural Law theory believe there are absolute principles of right and wrong that can be accessed through reason without necessarily attributing them to a God or other supernatural source (like Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative). Right and wrong just are, and we have a duty to do right no matter the cost or outcome.
"Billy don't bite your sister!"
"Why?"
"Because it's not right to bite people! What if everyone went around biting each other? Obviously, biting isn't right."
CHARACTER BASED ETHICS...
Virtue Ethics puts the emphasis on learning balanced ways of behaving that will benefit the community. These ideals are planted within us like seeds. We can water these seeds and learn to live the good life through practice.
"Billy don't bite your sister!"
"Why?"
"Because biting people might become a bad habit and that habit won't help you become the good person you want to become, were meant to become, and that our family needs you to become."
GOD BASED ETHICS...
Divine Command Theory says that something is right or wrong because God decides it.
"Billy don't bite your sister!"
"Why?"
"Because God doesn't like it when brothers bite their sisters!"
Prophetic Ethics puts the emphasis on action, and is often concerned with social justice.
"Billy don't bite your sister!"
"Why?"
"Because she is younger and not as strong, and you shouldn't abuse your power that way."
The moral philosophy of Jesus has points of similarity with most of these and other ethical systems, but it also differs in at least two significant ways:
First of all, the way of Jesus stands out because Jesus puts love, not law or any other value, at the centre of his ethic. Jesus calls us to a love that is understood, encountered, and experienced through a relationship with God, who is love.
This love (Greek, agapé) is the experience and expression of unconditional value; the choice to honour someone in attitude and action; the will to work for the good of someone we hold as precious. Love is an expression of honour which includes emotion and action, but is deeper than either alone. Love involves our entire psyche - intellect, emotion, and will. Love is an act of whole persons reaching out to whole persons. (For more on love, see our previous study.) As we walk with Jesus, apprenticing in his teaching and example, we will learn to recognize and internalize divine love and it will lead us into identifying the best moral choices.
The Jesus way has no script, playbook, no rulebook, but is more like comedic ensemble improv. We make instinctive, spontaneous choices together for the good of all. But that spontaneity comes along with practice. When we train our hearts in the ways of love, we can act and react in specific situations with sharpened instincts rather than trying to follow a playbook, rulebook, or script. (For those of us meeting regularly in one of our small churches, this is precisely what we are practicing.)
Secondly, the way of Jesus is unique in the world of moral philosophy in that Jesus goes beyond providing a system for living well to also providing a system of recovery and restoration when we fail to live well. He makes things like mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation central to his ethic in ways no other moral philosopher does. This is a big deal. All ethical systems have one thing in common: they all attempt to teach us how to go about living a better life, the good life. If we fail to follow the system, the system's only response is "do better at following the system".
In the ethical approach of Jesus, half his teaching is about how to live the good life and the other half is about how to recover when we fail to listen to his teaching about how to live the good life. (Keep reading that last sentence until it sinks in.)
Recovery from failure is a significant part of the ethical system of Jesus. According to Jesus, the good life is lived within connected and compassionate community, and maintaining unity in community will necessitate strong and clear failure recovery mechanisms. Jesus has an exceptionally realistic and compassionate view of human frailty. In fact, Jesus said he didn't come to help good people become better people; he came to help sick people get well (Matthew 9:12-13) and to help sinful people experience forgiveness (Matthew 26:28). This dual approach to ethics - how to live the good life and how to recover when we fail to live the good life - is unprecedented and unparalleled in the world of moral philosophy. And it is the grace that this world needs today.
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ~ JESUS (Matthew 26:28)
All humans "walk with a limp" morally, whether we admit it or not. To be human is to experience the paradox fashioned by two truths:
First, we all have a value system made up of ethical principles or opinions about some things being right and other things being wrong.
Second, we all fail to live up to at least some of those values. Never mind the Ten Commandments or any other external moral code, we do not always live according to our own ethical standards. We all hold to values that, at least sometimes, we fail to follow. We are all hypocrites.
“Beware of any Christian who doesn't walk with a limp.” ~ A.W. Tozer
This means that all helpful human ethics will have two aspects:
a) how to live right, and
b) how to recover from failure to live right.
To truly meet the needs of any human psyche or society, an ethical system should not only point out the good, but also lead people through a helpful way of responding when we fail to live up to that good.
Here is an idea for a church. Someone should go and start it:
As mentioned (this is so important it bears repeating), other moral philosophies focus on the first dimension of morality - how we should live and why. But only Jesus draws our attention equally to the second dimension - how we react to ourselves and one another when we fail. Only Jesus leans into the reality that people mess up and in order to live in harmony, need a strong "ethic of recovery". Only Jesus helps us see that we are all hypocrites to some extent (Luke 12:54-56). So we can and should confront our own and other's failure as a normal part of loving community, not with the self-righteous shock and awe show of the Pharisees (Luke 18:9-14) but with gentle, corrective, lean in love.
Disciples of Jesus are not scandalized by failure but ready for action.
(I was told about a woman at my former church who, after hearing about my significant sin, said to her home church group: "Okay team, this is the kind of thing we've been training for. It's go time!" She understood the way of Jesus.)
Once again for the people at the back: Jesus is no moral idealist; he is a humanitarian realist. Jesus seems to know humanity better than we know ourselves. He prepares his followers, his church, for their own future failure. Jesus is not just in the morality business, he is in the recovery business. And this, more than just mere moral pontificating, is precisely what we all need.
The early Church new this. A common way of greeting or saying goodbye for first century Christians was "Grace, Mercy, and Peace" (1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; 2 John 1:3).
Grace: getting what we don't deserve.
Mercy: not getting what we do deserve.
Peace: the reconciliation, restoration, and wholeness that results when a community practices grace and mercy.
This is the Jesus Way; this is our "brand".
Because of grace, Jesus' invitation to be perfect is the command that comes with a promise - God will help us arrive where we are going. Our job is just to put one foot in front of the other, walking with faith, hope, and love. The "be perfect" line is a call to be who we are becoming.
This mentality of being assured of an outcome yet still invited to work toward that outcome is both paradoxical and freeing at the same time. We have a job to do, a life of love to live, but we do so without the pressure of performing in order to get good grades on Judgement Day (John 5:24). We know where we are headed.
On a family vacation to Florida, we could think of the vacation in terms of starting once we arrive at our Disney resort, but that mentality would drastically reduce our vacation time, missing the potential joy of the road trip there and back. The family on their way to Florida is already on vacation, and yet there is still a destination ahead.
This already/not yet theme of being and becoming can be found throughout the New Testament.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. ~ The apostle John (1 John 3:2-3)
Just as there is an already/not yet quality to the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, so there is an already/not yet aspect to our identity as God's children. While we pursue perfection, we can do so knowing that God will guide us across the finish line.
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. ~ The apostle Paul (Philippians 1:6)
We are not yet all that we will become, but we are gladly on the journey toward perfection, and that makes us a "perfect fit" for being a disciple of Jesus right here and right now. On the one hand, we are all far from perfect, and on the other hand, Jesus looks us all in the eyes and says, "You're perfect for me."
We are free. Free from fear of judgement or worry about our failure to pass the test. Sure in this life we strive, we try, we work hard, we give maximum effort, but we do this without pressure to perform.
The way of Jesus is about partnership, not pressure.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is kind and my burden is light. ~ JESUS (Matthew 11:28-30)
The “yoke” Jesus refers to is his teaching. Notice Jesus says to take my yoke upon you, not take my comfy couch underneath you. There is still work to be done. But this work is purposeful not performative, motivated by a desire to create beautiful things together with the God who already accepts us unconditionally.
This is the perfect life.
In the Torah, God tells Moses to give all Israel this command:
You shall be holy because I am holy. ~ Yahweh (Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:26; 1 Peter 1:16)
Jesus and his original audience would have this saying in mind when he says his iconic "You shall be perfect" command, since Jesus uses the same word pattern. Why not just repeat the same instruction using the same words? Why not just tell his disciples to be holy as God is holy? Why not say what the Bible already says? Why change the word to "perfect/complete"?
Jesus is transposing the Old Testament teaching into a higher key.
Holiness means to be separate, set apart, distinct, but the word "holy" (Greek, hagios) doesn't say how someone is to be separate, set apart, and distinct. Yes, Jesus People are to be different and distinct but in a specific way - by being perfectly merciful, loving all people, no matter what their failures may be, including our worst enemies. This is what "holiness" looks like according to Jesus.
"The word 'holy' was too loaded with connotations to quote Leviticus directly, so he playfully but profoundly swaps out hagios (holy) for teleios (whole)." ~ Jonathan T. Pennington (The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing)
For a disciple of Jesus, our holiness is experienced and expressed through our wholeness.
Throughout Christian history, holiness movements often become obsessed with rules to keep people morally pure. But Jesus helps us see God's true vision for his Church: holiness movements should be mercy movements.
Of course we should always do our best to live morally upright lives. Jesus cares about that too. But a significant amount of the teaching of Jesus and his apostles is about how Jesus People will respond differently than the world around us when we do encounter failure in ourselves or others (e.g., Matthew 18; Galatians 6:1-2; etc).
Perhaps it is time to pray for a revival in the Church, a new Jesus Revolution. We've seen amazing revivals throughout Church history based on passion for scripture, repentance from sin, and infilling of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps this generation needs a revival, no, a revolution, rooted in the restorative power of mercy.
May God's perfect love lead us into our fearless perfection.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ~ The apostle John (1 John 4:18)
CONFESSION
(Personal reflection)
I confess I have a character flaw. Or a bunch of them. I must. How could I have let myself do what I've done and become what I've become.
Knowing this has the potential to leave me discouraged beyond all hope. Why live another day, have another conversation, maintain any relationship if disaster is just around the corner. Why interact with this world if lurking just below the surface I carry around with me the potential to blow up my life and hurt the people I love so severely?
Most days I feel like the kindest thing I could do for the world around me is disappear. Let my life be a shining example of one lesson: sin has consequences, so don't go there.
That's a good lesson to learn. But Jesus teaches me a better lesson: Every failed life can be redeemed rather than rejected. And if this is true, it must include me. This is what I tell myself every day to stay alive. With the help of therapists, spiritual directors, family support, and quality friends, this is what I need to know. I need it to be true.
Most of the time, I resonate too much with King Solomon:
Futile! Fleeting! Utterly empty! Everything is meaningless! ~ King Solomon (Opening words of Ecclesiastes)
I. Feel. This. Every. Day.
I need the love ethic of Jesus, wrapped in grace, mercy, and peace, to keep me moving forward, to keep me sane, to keep me alive. And I am grateful beyond words that this is what Jesus offers me, offers all of us.
I find that staring into the severity of King David's sin is both disheartening and encouraging, because it is this very sin, or series of sins, that David receives forgiveness for. Even after his horrible sequence of sickening sexual and murderous choices, David's status as "a man after God's own heart" is not erased. And Jesus accepts the messianic designation of "Son of David". Really Jesus? You want to be associated with this guy?
In a Synagogue sermon one Sabbath, the apostle Paul highlights God's view of King David:
After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ ~ The apostle Paul (Acts 13:22; also 1 Samuel 13:14)
This verse poses a question: How can God say a significant sinner like David is aligned with his own heart? David is guilty of severe sexual sin and murder by proxy, yet God holds him up as an example of us to emulate? How do we fit these two contradictory ideas together?
The rest of the verse may hold the answer: because David carried out God's will in God's way ("he will do everything I want him to do"). We know David also did things that were not God's will, but apparently, God doesn't define us by our failure. God defines David by his heart, his desire to please God, and his commitment to keep walking with God even after his moral failure is exposed. Rising in repentance after falling down in failure is all part of doing God's will in God's way.
God says of David: He will do everything I want him to do. Ya, he will also do things I don't want him to do, but when confronted he will repent the way I want him to repent, and in this way, he will do everything I want him to do.
That is so... Sermon on the Mount.
David trusted God, through his successes and his failures. And as we have learned with Abraham, God credits our faith (trust) as righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:1-22; Galatians 3:6-9).
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. ~ The apostle Paul (Galatians 5:6)
What hope this gives sinners like me, and maybe like you too. Anyone who has fallen flat on their face in failure has the chance to rise again in repentance and to hear God say, "You are doing everything I want you to do".
We are not considered righteous because we never fail, but because we repent and keep going with God when we do fail.
Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again. ~ King Solomon (Proverbs 24:16)
This helps us understand Jesus' idea of "perfection". Jesus is rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures and even claims to fulfil them (Matthew 5:17), that is, to fill them full with their true purpose and meaning. As said above, when Jesus is talking about perfection, he is talking about mercy perfection not moral perfection, and the story of King David helps reinforce this understanding.
Do you love God but have fallen down morally?
Get back up again.
You're righteous.
Did you fall again?
Get back up again.
You're righteous.
Fall again?
You know what to do.
You're righteous.
Besides his many flaws, David also knows how to place love above law (Matthew 12:3-4) and shows us occasions of profound enemy love (e.g, 1 Samuel 24 & 26), and enemy love is the context of Jesus' call to perfection. So overall, God says David is perfect, blameless, heart-aligned. This is similar to what Jesus has in mind in the Beatitudes when he blesses those who are "pure in heart" (see our study here for more on that).
No matter how horribly we have sinned, every sinner-turned-saint and every saint-turned-sinner, can by God's grace hold their head up and receive the promise that is also an invitation: We shall be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.
Again to remind us, this Good News message of Jesus is our world's greatest need. And because the message meets our human need so perfectly and so powerfully, it gives evidence to the supernatural identity of the man behind the message.
This changes what evangelism looks like today. Our job is not to convince people that Jesus is Lord. Our job is to introduce people to the teaching of Jesus and let Jesus convince them.
In the words of my philosophical-agnostic, functional-atheist, turned Jesus-appreciating-quasi-believing father-in-law: "There seems to be something superhuman, even supernatural going on here. Jesus' level of human insight is no less than miraculous." (Hi Hans!)
CONCLUSION
(One last thought)
In sum, here's how to be perfect in three easy steps.
A. Admit you're not. Far from it actually. Which is really good news, since Jesus says he hasn't come for healthy people but for sickos, not the righteous but sinners (Matthew 9:12-13).
B. Believe in and receive the mercy of Christ who forgives and cleanses. When we accept the cleansing love of Jesus, we will find it easier to pour that kind of love out to others and to experience inner peace (Luke 7:47-50).
C. Commit to being abundantly merciful toward people who screw up, which is everybody at some point. Freely we receive, and freely we give (Matthew 10:8).
Now you're living the perfect Christian life, a life where we are continually breathing unconditional love in and out.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive. ~ JESUS (Luke 6:37-38)
CONTEMPLATE
(Scripture passages that relate to and deepen our understanding of this topic)
Proverbs 24:16; Luke 6:36-38; 18:9-14; John 13:34-35; Romans 4:1-22; Philippians 1:6
CONVERSATION
(Talk together, learn together, grow together)
What is God revealing to you about himself through this passage?
What is God showing you about yourself through this passage?
How possible do you think it is to really practice the kind of soul-embracing mercy Jesus describes? What are the hardest sins for you to forgive in others? Are their any sins someone might commit that you would say, "No, I draw the line here. That sin is unforgivable"?
What is one thing you can think, believe, or do differently in light of what you are learning?
What questions are you still processing about this topic?