Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect

 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

- Matthew 5:38-48

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7 of Matthew's Gospel.  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught,  "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.'  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.  Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'  But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.'  But I say to you, do not swear at all:  neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor   by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.  But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.'  For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."

 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away."  Jesus quotes from the Law, found in Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21.  In contrast to this, my study bible says, Jesus warns us not to resist violence with more violence.  Evil can only be overcome by good, it notes, which keeps us free from compromise with the devil and can bring our enemy under the yoke of God's love.  Note that Jesus doesn't excuse the bad behavior, nor does He state that there is no evil, nor that we won't have enemies.  He isn't speaking about remaining in a state of naivete about the world.  But He does give us a positive attribute to our own character that we strive to maintain.  Also, to resist here has a meaning of strong and forceful public opposition, an ardent and absolute stand of refusal; the word is used here is a military term in classical Greek.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."   Jesus is in some sense extending the concept of community to those outside our nominal community -- see and compare to Leviticus 19:18.  If we are freed from a slavery to hate, sadness, and anger, we are able to receive the greatest virtue, my study bible tells us, which is perfect love.  The love of enemies, it says, it not merely an emotion, but includes decision and action.  Compare this also to Proverbs 25:21-22, as quoted by St. Paul in Romans 12:20-21.  Jesus is teaching us a kind of love that surpasses even our own notions of love, a life in which we participate and dwell in God's love, learning to express that love as part of ourselves (see Ephesians 4:13, 1 John 4:7-21).

The teaching here is finally a summation of the goal of Christian discipleship, to "be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."  How can we, as fallible human beings, be perfect?  What is Jesus talking about?  Christian discipleship is an active participation and communion.  He doesn't just give us a set of rules, but rather the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets in His Person (see Wednesday's reading).  As such, what He offers to us is not only His word and teaching but also His Person.  In the Eucharist, we partake of His body and blood, He gives us the Comforter to dwell with us, and where we are gathered, there He and His Father are as well.  His Kingdom lives within us and among us.  All of these teachings tell us what it is to live in a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees (again, see Wednesday's reading).  Thereby, what we seek when we live His teachings that fulfill the Law and the Prophets is more than an intellectual choice.  It is a fullness and wholeness of participation in something.  Just as the fullness of a human being is more than rational choices of need, of material existence, but rather includes beauty and truth, the things of the soul which are not limited by time, and a spiritual reality in which we dwell, so the fullness of the Law and Prophets is in He in whom St. Paul says we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).  None of these elements of our existence are split off from one another.  We so often wish to choose between them all.  But Christ teaches us about the fullness of our own being and humanity; we can't split off the intellect from the soul or soul from intellect.  His teachings give us substance that addresses the wholeness and fullness of who we are, and His righteousness calls us to that complete place.  Our true reality is such that we may dwell in this place with Him, the Father, and the Spirit and participate with the fullness of our own heart, soul, mind, spirit, and strength, and grow in the love that is of God.  Is it impossible for us to conceive of not resisting our enemies with absolute ferocity?  Are there ways in which we can grow to understand God's love as it calls for us to live it and learn it and bear it into the world like a lamp that shines in us?  Can we grow in this perfection?  Jesus invites us in to His kind of discipleship, a lifelong learning curve that calls upon the fullness of who we are as human beings.  We bring even our most damaged, wounded, defective, and sinful parts so that He can instruct what to leave behind, how to change, how to grow, and nurture what He asks of us in love.  It is this love in which we learn perfection, to be like our Father in heaven.  In a modern context, we may consider what it means to love as God loves, the boundaries we don't cross even when we are hurt by another.   All of Jesus' teachings are a whole, and complete together.  So far in the Sermon on the Mount He has taught us about name-calling,  adultery, easy divorce, the careless use of our words.  Let us understand it all in the context of what love is and does and accepts, and how love is our true discipline.