Be Perfect?

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Friday, March 21, 2014



        Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
         Matthew 5:48 (NIV)

Jesus said it, so let’s deal with it.  

The New Testament was written in Greek, which translates the words of Jesus which were spoken in Aramaic, a ‘street language’ form of Hebrew spoken by the average Jew.  The Greek word, teleios means something like, “mature, adult, completed, perfect”.  Jesus probably used the Aramaic word (salem or tamim) which meant “whole, unblemished”.  So far so good, but it probably doesn’t help much.  What is Jesus telling us?  

For every 100 interpreters there are 100 explanations.   I find it interesting that Luke’s parallel rendering of this sentence is “be merciful as your Father in Heaven is merciful”.    Maybe that plus the word “as”  in both Mathew and Luke give us the clue to what Jesus is saying.    Beginning in verse 43 Jesus had told us  “love your enemies”, “pray for those who persecute you”, “the sun rises on the good and evil alike”   Could it be that “perfect” means that we are to seek to love everyone as God loves everyone, no one excluded? Of one thing I am sure.   Jesus is not telling us to be sinless.  Jesus doesn’t make new laws,  he came to complete the meaning and intent of the law and to forgive our failure to achieve it.   

I hope you take a moment to watch this video again, and again, and again.  Watch it until you “get” the shocking, extravagant, scandalous, promiscuous, undeserving love and grace that God offers to everyone, no one excluded.   Even I am included in the Love of God.  You too.  When we “get” that, we then understand what kind of person Jesus is urging us to become.  

Watch:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnaZlwme8Sw

 

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