The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany --- 23 February 2014

Matthew 5:38-48

"You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

• Once again, we hear from Matthew's version of the sermon on the mount and it is all hard to hear. It seems to go against human nature. Turn the other cheek? Give up your coat? Go the second mile? Love your enemies? Really... who wants to do that?
• I've actually heard that these actions are really tactics to turn the tables on the powerful oppressors. If you turn you other cheek, the one who slapped you now has to use the other hand and is himself dishonoured. If the occupation forces require you to carry supplies a mile, take the load two miles and keep someone else free to do something else. Love your enemies and in doing so heap burning coals on their heads. (Paul said that in his letter to the Romans.) Despite what Paul says this all seems less than loving and it can sound what psychology people call “passive-aggressive.”
• Still we are called to love our enemies, to forgive those who hate us and even pray for those who act against us. It does not seem realistic or sensible or even doable.
• Of course, it is not realistic or sensible or doable if we have to do it on our own. The Gospel message is that we don't have to do it on our own! We rely on grace for the fulfilment of what God wishes.
• So we have the exhortation Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
• Of course, these appears at first glance to be an exhortation or even a commandment to be perfect. The pursuit of perfection is something beyond our comprehension and surely beyond our grasp. We might go so far as to say that perfection is impossible for us. So we're left with what looks like a command of Jesus that cannot be fulfilled. If we take it seriously, it is obvious the game is rigged since we can't be perfect. If we take it lightly, we might think that Jesus is kidding and saying something that cannot be and maybe all the rest of the things he said cannot be taken seriously.
• There must be something else. If we look at what else Jesus tells us in this passage from Matthew we see that expectations are turned around and even turned upside down. Violent attacks are not reciprocated and responded to in kind. Enemies are to be loved and prayed for. Maybe perfection in this instance is something else, something turned upside-down or inside-out.
• The example of loving your enemies is Jesus, who went so far as to forgive those who crucified him. We say quite often that the love of God is best shown in the death of Jesus for all of us, that the Father's love is shown best in the vulnerability of Jesus we see best in the crucifixion and in his becoming human like us with all our failings.
• To be perfect “as your Heavenly Father is perfect” does not mean to become a perfect person; that's far beyond our reach. No matter how good we might become, we remain broken, imperfect, fallible human beings. We cannot achieve perfection. This is no secret, but something we all know.
• We know ourselves best. Were we to become perfect, we'd probably chalk it up to our own resources and abilities. We might think that we are like God, and maybe even equal to God. But if we let ourselves “off the hook” and give up, we would give up the struggle. Instead we turn it around as Jesus did.
• God's way of perfect love is to be imperfect and vulnerable, as Jesus showed himself to be. To be perfect is to open ourselves up and be vulnerable with the possibility of being hurt somehow. That is what God did (and does) in Jesus.
• For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus uses the example of the outcasts in Jewish society – tax collectors and Gentiles – to show that loving those who love you is no great feat. Loving those who DON'T love you is quite a different story. And that story is told best in Jesus' incarnation and crucifixion... and resurrection.
• The Lord knows this is not easy, nor is it accomplished in a short time, nor it it accomplished perfectly. The grace of God makes up for our failings, for God's love is greater than our failings and greater than our love. God's grace is what lets us love the unlovable, the hateful, and the ones who don't love us. To be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect is only possible in the life of grace and that is what Jesus is gently and constantly calling us all to.
• You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.