February 20, 2011
Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Year A
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Palm 119:33-401 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23Matthew 5:38-48
I have to admit that I have always been somewhat of a perfectionist. Generally I like things to be done well and correctly. I have applied this drive for perfection to some very strange areas of my life. For example, when we were farming, I was often the one who raked hay. I loved to rake hay. What I loved most about it was how neat and even the windrows of hay were as I drove around the field. There was a problem, though: we had some pretty strangely shaped fields. In a perfect world of my design, hay fields would be perfectly square. Then raking could and would be perfect on the first attempt because you’d just go around that perfectly square field and not have to accommodate for its misshapenness. But our farm did not have the hay fields of a perfect world, so I would spend much time and planning and going back over the windrows and raking out the corners and stopping to get off the tractor to straighten out a row or to pick up some hay on a turn that I could not get with the rake. I really didn’t mind because I loved the look of a perfectly raked field. It made me feel satisfied and happy and proud that I had accomplished such perfection. I did not stop to think back then at the fuel I must have wasted going back over areas that needed a little spiffing up if they were to be perfect. Or the extra time it took me to accomplish the task – important especially when Ken was trying to bale or chop the hay to beat a threatened rainstorm or the dew of nightfall.
Another area of my life where my perfectionist tendencies show up is in my towel cupboard. The rest of my house can be an absolute mess, but not my towel cupboard. I have a particular way I fold the towels and washcloths and place them in the cupboard. They have to be that way, and if someone messes them up, I have to fix them so they are “right.” Well, not exactly have to – but close enough!
Am I obsessive-compulsive, or what? Not really. Well, maybe a little, but only in a few things, though – I guess I’d have to include the bulletin among them, considering that it drives me nuts when it’s not perfect. Like today’s bulletin that says my Reflections are “Part 3” when they are actually “Part 4.” (And I'm the one who designs and formats the bulletin!) But I’m not as bad off as the humorous tee shirt that says, “I have CDO – it’s the same as OCD, but with the letters in the right order as they should be.” And I’m not as bad off as Lucy in the Peanuts cartoon when she tells Charlie Brown, “I have examined my life and found it to be without flaw. Therefore, I’m going to hold a ceremony and present myself with a medal. I will then give a moving acceptance speech. After that, I’ll greet myself in the receiving line.” And then she concludes somewhat sadly, “When you’re perfect, you have to do everything yourself.”
I am telling you this about myself because I like to think that I do know first-hand a little something about perfection. Well, that is, I thought I knew about it until I began to prepare for this week’s Reflections and Part 4 of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. If you thought last week’s gospel lesson [Matthew 5:21-37] contained some difficult teachings, then, as the saying goes, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” Today’s reading from Matthew tops them.
The gospel lesson for today is a continuation of last week’s teachings about our behavior in the kingdom of God - primarily about how we treat others. Today’s lesson uses the same formula: “You have heard that it was said” followed by “But I say to you.” Where it differs is in the instruction that follows. Very difficult instructions that sound very much like commands. “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” “If anyone demands your coat, give him your cloak as well.” “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” And the final biggie: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” And at that point you might be wanting to respond with a big “You want me to do what?” “No one can do the things you are telling us to do when someone wrongs us – much less be perfect like God.”
So, here’s what I ended up focusing on this week – on this question: what does this “be perfect” thing mean? And especially to be perfect as God is perfect.
Part of the problem is with how we interpret the word PERFECT. We think of things being perfect like Lucy does. Flawless. I’m not sure where, but I read recently that "in Scripture the word PERFECT has less to do with being “flawless” than it does with being “used for a purpose.” For example, a spoon is the “perfect” utensil to use for eating soup. The spoon might be dented, a little bent, and what have you – but in being used to scoop soup – as opposed to being used as a weapon or a garden tool – the spoon is PERFECT."
I looked up the Greek word for perfect used in this verse. It is teleioi. According to my Greek Lexicon, that word can mean many things: brought to completion, fully accomplished, fully developed and specifically as used in Mathew 5:48 it means perfect [in some point of character] or without shortcoming [in respect of a certain standard]. And it has a sense of being progressive in nature – a sense of becoming – becoming perfect, fully developed.1 So basically it means, becoming mature, becoming more like God – God who is Love.
I also looked up what John Wesley had to say about perfection. Wesley did not believe in or preach “sinless perfection.” Rather he taught that a Christian could become “perfect in love.” This love would mean, first of all, that a believer’s motives, instead of being self-centered, would be guided by the deep desire to please God. And second, to be made perfect in love also meant that a Christian could live with a primary regard for others and their welfare. He based this on Christ’s quote that the second great command is “to love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
In a sermon on Christian Perfection, Wesley wrote:
“Christian perfection, therefore, does not imply . . . an exemption either from ignorance or mistake, or infirmities or temptations. Indeed, it is only another term for holiness. They are two names for the same thing. Thus every one that is perfect is holy, and every one that is holy is, in the Scripture sense, perfect. Yet we may, lastly, observe, that neither in this respect is there any absolute perfection on earth. There is no perfection of degrees, as it is termed; none which does not admit of a continual increase. So that how much soever any man hath attained, or in how high a degree soever he is perfect, he hath still need to “grow in grace,” [2 Pet. 3:18] and daily to advance in the knowledge and love of God his Saviour. [see Phil. 1:9]”2
Wesley was echoing the words we heard this morning from Leviticus, words spoken to Moses by the LORD: “You shall be holy, for I the LORD am holy. [Leviticus 19:2b] That’s another scary term: holy. You want me to do what? Be perfect? Be holy?
The answer is a resounding “Yes!” In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is saying, “That is exactly what I want you to work at becoming. Holy. Perfect. And I have given you many examples of how you can go about choosing to behave in such a way as to become holy and perfect. And, yes, it will take time to become holy and perfect. But you have a lifetime to get it right!”
I like the way Eugene Peterson sums it all up in the last verse of our gospel lesson for today. Jesus, speaking to his disciples and others in the crowd who had gathered to hear him teach, said:
“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you." [Matthew 5:48 The Message]
Let's do that! Let's work at becoming perfect
in our love of God and of others.
It is possible, you know. It's a matter of choice.
So may we choose!
Amen!
EndNotes
2 The Sermons of John Wesley, Christian Perfection, Sermon 40. Text from the 1872 edition, Thomas Jackson, editor. On-line at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/40/
________________________
Copyright: Carol J. Borland, Retired, Pastor Emeritus, Interim Pastor, West Danville United Methodist Church, West Danville, Vermont. Preached on Epiphany 7, Year A. February 20, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment