Perfection

Matt. 5:48 – “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”

Talk about Wham-O!! He sticks it straight to us here- no qualifications, no room for justification, no conditions- just “be perfect.”

My impression of myself is that I’m pretty low key and rarely goes out to ‘rock the boat.’ However, I have a side of me that really appreciates things that are in your face, things that hit you head on and force you to deal with them. So I love this command of Jesus for that reason. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

So this verse popped in my head when I was invited to participate in this blog. Looking it up I wanted to check out the almighty Context and see if I can ‘qualify’ it so that my brain can wrap itself around it a bit easier. (Disclaimer: I am fully admitting that any qualifications from context are my own- ie., that of a limited, mortal, finite being- even though I’m approaching something regarding an unlimited, immortal, infinite entity. Proceed with the appropriate grain of salt.)

Low and behold- the context fits in nicely with my ruminations on ‘pure behavior’ that I’ve been exploring on my blog! In other words, it is behaving toward someone not based on who you are or who they are (ie.- our ‘platforms’). Jesus has drawn distinctions between how humans act toward each other (even pagans like their friends!) and how God acts toward others (causing the sun to rise on the evil and the good.)

So I’m seeing the crucial phrase in this verse as being the word ‘as’- how is your Heavenly Father perfect? In what way are we to be perfect ‘as’ He is perfect? Based on the context-in our treatment of others. We should treat everyone with the same love and mercy, regardless of their standing in relation to ours.

Perhaps we can think of it this way: it takes two to Tango. If we have a problem with somebody – or, taking the good and the bad, if we are friends with someone- it is as much a reflection of us as it is of them. Using this analogy, it seems that God acts as the dance itself rather than a participant on one or the other side. When taken with the idea of ‘dying to ourselves’ (ie.,- getting rid of our ‘platform’) I see Jesus as commanding us to be the same- to be the dance.