About Perfection (Matt. 5:48)
For many people, one of Jesus' most puzzling statements comes in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount: "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48, NIV). Across the centuries, conscientious Christians have struggled to reach the standard to which they thought Jesus Christ was pointing, a state of complete victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Some have flagellated and beaten themselves; some have gone on pilgrimages; others have sought it through stringent keeping of the law. The goal is altogether worthy in every case. But is that what Jesus was calling for in Matthew 5?
Compare the following pairs of scriptures. Notice how they inform and balance each other:
Matt. 10:34-39 and Luke 14:26, 27
The seemingly harsh language of Jesus in Luke 14 is mollified by its parallel in Matthew 10, which gives us, we think, a better grasp of what Jesus was trying to say. And whereas the Matthew 7 passage on prayer has Jesus promising us, upon the asking of "good gifts" (vs. 11, RSV) ("good things", KJV)(which can inadvertently focus the mind on the material), Luke has Jesus pledging, instead, "the Holy Spirit" (Luke 11:13, NIV)—a considerable shift in perspective.
The same kind of synthesis takes place in respect to the final pair of texts. Where Matthew has Jesus saying: "Be ye therefore perfect," (Matt. 5:48), Luke reports His words as: "Be ye therefore merciful" (Luke 6:36), which, according to both contexts, comes closer to what Jesus meant. In Luke the context speaks about loving our enemies, and lending without expecting anything back. Doing things like that, Jesus says, makes us "sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (vs. 35, NIV). Then follows immediately the statement: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (vs. 36, NIV). In Matthew the situation is identical, the verse on being perfect preceded by talk of love to enemies, prayer for those who mistreat us, and about God sending rain equally on the righteous and the wicked. Jesus thus wanted to encourage us to be just like our heavenly Father, Who is kind to all and shows no partiality. That is what perfect in this context means. It is a high order, to be sure, but what higher ideal can a Christian strive for?
| THURSDAY | May 8 |
About Family (John 19:25-27)
A young woman joined David Koresh's ill-fated group back in the 1990s, and was at the group's Waco, Texas compound when her mother passed away in Canada. As she prepared to leave for the funeral, the charismatic guru intercepted her plans. No need, he said, to expend time and funds for such mundane purposes; there are more important things to do on the compound. She never went.
Read the following sayings of Jesus: Matt. 10:34-37; 12:46-50; Luke 9:59-62; 12:49-53; 14:26. How would you answer the charge that they tend to give aid and comfort to charismatics like Koresh (and others), who denigrate natural family ties and loyalties?
"This reconfiguration of family values—driving a wedge between earthly and heavenly, . . . becomes a major theme in Luke's gospel. . . . In addition to statements embracing all who keep God's word as true kinfolk (8:19-21; 11:27, 28),. . . Luke's Jesus lays down the shocking mandate to 'hate father and mother'—even to the point of leaving a dead father to bury himself!—as a condition for discipleship (9:57-62; 14:25)"—F. Scott Spencer, What Did Jesus Do? (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 2003), p. 35.
Jesus' statements sound harsh to the modern ear, to be sure. But are they really so, when you understand what they mean? In the case of letting "the dead bury their own dead" (Luke 9:60, NIV) for example, had the father of the potential disciple actually died? Or was that person saying, in effect: "I will follow you after my father dies, and I have secured all the property"? And how should we understand Jesus' statement in Luke 14:26 that no one can be His disciple who "does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life" (NIV)? As pointed out in yesterday's lesson, the Matthew parallel throws light on Jesus' meaning here, by Jesus talking in the Matthew text about those who love father and mother and wife, etc. more than Him (see Matt. 10:37). "In the Bible, 'to hate,' often should be understood simply as . . . 'to love less'"—SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 811. The idea Jesus was trying to get across was the importance of putting God first.
Oftentimes our familial bonds are the strongest earthly bonds that we know, and rightly so. Why, though, must God always come first, even before family, if need be?
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