Today’s reading is Matthew 5.
Please, please, please, do not make the silly mistake so many Christians make when they come to the final verse of Matthew 5. Jesus says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Christians say, “Don’t let that stress you out. ‘Perfect’ just means ‘mature, complete, whole.'” Really? Does that make this sentence any easier to deal with? When the modifier is “as your heavenly Father is,” does changing the word from “perfect” to “mature” or “complete” or “whole” really soften the statement? Not in my book. I am no more mature or complete or whole as God is than I am perfect as God is.
Surely, this stands out even more when it is in the context of loving like God instead of as the Gentiles, tax collectors, scribes, and Pharisees do. I am called to love as purely, as perfectly, as maturely, as completely, as wholly as my heavenly Father does. Does that just mean making my best stab and trying really, really hard to love my enemy as well as my neighbor? Wouldn’t such a claim actually be relaxing Jesus’s command? We know what that does. Or does this statement’s standard actually take me right back to the first sentence of Jesus’s sermon?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus isn’t calling me to love a bit better than Gentiles and tax collectors. He is calling me to love like God does. If I just had to love a bit better than Gentiles and tax collectors, I could probably pull that off. I could probably work really, really hard and be able to tell everyone how much better at loving I am than them. Of course, that wouldn’t be very poor in spirit, would it? However, when I realize the standard is not surpassing other people, but measuring up to God, suddenly, I realize my poverty of spirit, don’t I? Not only that, I start to mourn. I’ve got nothing to offer God in order to be His child. I will never be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect.
Does this free me from the obligation? Of course not. Recognizing I never will be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect is not permission to abandon the attempt. It is not permission to relax Jesus’s command. Rather, it is all the more reason I must meekly submit to His command and His guidance. It is all the more reason I must hunger and thirst for His righteousness. Only then will I have the kingdom. Only then will I be comforted. Only then will I inherit the reward. Only then will I be satisfied.
Understand, I will not be satisfied by dumbing down Jesus’s requirement. I will only be satisfied when I realize I will never reach His requirement and therefore humbly, mournfully, meekly, hungrily seek Jesus my King and His kingdom. Only then will I be perfect as the Father is. Not because I’m so perfect, but because my perfect King perfects me.
Praise the Lord!!!
Next week’s reading is Matthew 6.
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Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family
- What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
- When you first read “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” what did you think?
- Why is loving our enemies so hard?
- When we consider this paragraph (and the one’s preceding it), why do we need Jesus so much?
- What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?
Read the Bible 