“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt 5.48
Fourth Sunday before Lent: Ecclesiasticus 15.15-end; Psalm 119.1-8; 1 Corinthians 3.1-9; Matthew 5.21-37
At face value, this is one of the most depressing verses in the Bible.
At the end of this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says to his followers: “in short, just be perfect and as good as God is!”
Well that’s life sorted then! No more problems with doing anything wrong. Just got to be perfect.
This is right up there with saying to someone in the depths of depression: “come on, cheer up!”
Or to someone whose life is in a mess: “pull yourself together!”
Or to bolshie teenagers: “why don’t you just grow up!”
Here we are, struggling with sin and all the inconsistencies of our complicated lives and Jesus says: “just be as good as God is!”
When most of us feel like the man standing in church staring at the Ten Commandments on the Wall, muttering to himself: “well at least I haven’t coveted my neighbour’s ox…”
The Old Testament lesson from Ecclesiasticus and today’s Psalm and then all these Gospel commands of Jesus, leave us feeling guilty and hopeless.
But then again, chances are, we haven’t really understood what Jesus is saying.
Matthew gives us six antitheses in the middle of his version of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount: six parallel sets of statements; six pericopae which follow the pattern: “you have heard that it was said… but I say to you…”
Jesus is not ignoring the law and the commandments of the Old Testament, but he is moving us on beyond them, to the law of love, which underlies them.
And he uses hyperbole – a way of exaggerating, often in a figure of speech, which creates strong feelings and reactions. Most of us felt uncomfortable as we were listening to the Gospel I read earlier.
Let me quickly run through the six antitheses without lingering too long on any of them.
The first one identifies the root of murder as anger (vv21-26). So try not to belittle people by abusive language, says Jesus. And when you come to the altar where you receive the tokens of Christ’s love and forgiveness, remember that you are to try and forgive those who trespass against you!
Notice all the hyperbolic language. It’s not literal. It’s quite impractical. This is not about avoiding certain sorts of name-calling; and of course it would be madness to leave your offering – a pigeon, or young goat - at the altar, while you went off to try and patch things up with someone you’ve fallen out with; and it’s certainly not about who you should or shouldn’t take to court.
It’s about following the example of the love of Jesus. Trying to treat others as you would like to be treated – even your enemies as Jesus will say in the sixth antithesis. (vv 43-48)
I’m sure I told you about my friend Ed, who was a rugby blue who was converted in the university mission. A few days later we were walking to a Bible study when one of his rugby friends came up and said playfully: ‘so you’re a Christian now?’ Ed said ‘yes’ and his friend then giggled and slapped him round the face.
Without hesitating, Ed slapped him back so hard that he knocked him down. As he was staggering up Ed said: ‘of course I’m not a very good Christian.’
All human love is less than perfect, less than God’s perfect love. But that’s the gold standard, which is constantly there, not to condemn us, but to encourage us to do better.
The second antithesis is about adultery and lust. The followers of Jesus are not to treat other people as objects – especially women as chattels - to gratify their own sexual appetites.
Again this is obviously not about gouging your eyes out or never having a sexual thought about anyone else.
It is the desire to be treated with respect, whether a man or a woman, and within our own culture, whether straight or gay. It was culturally revolutionary in the first century and still is in many parts of the world today.
Love, sex and relationships are bound up in a complex way, and whatever the cultural patterns, just look at the old Testament, we are to strive for integrity and mutual respect.
The third antithesis is about divorce and the purpose of marriage (v 31f.) It was, in the first century, about the rights of women in particular, and about the responsibilities and commitments of marriage in general.
It is not a law that Jesus is laying down about divorce; and certainly not an edict that all divorced people who remarry are living in adultery. Jesus is using hyperbole to drive home the point in a chauvinistic society.
It may be Jesus’ first word on divorce, but it is not his last and Matthew records a more considered discussion in chapter 19. Divorce is never an ideal way forward, but it is sometimes the best way forward.
The fourth antithesis is about oaths and telling the truth.
It’s not about whether we should or shouldn’t take an oath of obedience to a bishop or swear an oath in court. Rather, because we are to treat one another with love and respect, we must keep our word and always try to be truthful, or if we can’t, be silent.
The fifth and the sixth antitheses are about non-violent resistance (vv.38-42), the Lex Talionis, ‘an eye for an eye’ and turning the other cheek; and following on from that, about loving our enemies and not just our friends (vv.43-47).
And Jesus sums all this up by saying: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
I remember when I first learned to play squash. I was taught by a fellow student who went on to be a remarkable national player.
He was very kind to me and always held back so that I genuinely won a few points in every game. As I got better at the game, I began to see just how good he was.
With my lazy eye and my extra stone, I knew I would never be as good as him, but playing against him was very enjoyable and always encouraged me to do better.
When Jesus says: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”, he is using hyberbole again, as he has done all through the preceding six antitheses. Our heavenly Father is our kind and encouraging ‘coach’ if you like.
Of course he is always ahead of us; constantly showing us the better way of love; reminding us of the way we are to live together - in the words of Duruflé’s communion motet which we shall hear later on: ‘where charity and love are, God is there.’
So take heart from the words of Jesus and don’t turn them into another law with which to beat yourself up.
They are words which should be an inspiration as well as an aspiration - he’s always there to help us, as he says, with a smile:
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt 5.48
