Faith

The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch, 1890. Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Friday, June 27, 2025Faith

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. . . Jesus commands us to "be" perfect, not to "do" everything perfectly. That's a distinction that is difficult to maintain in our overly busy and deeply utilitarian world.

Jaymie Stuart
Wolfe

Some Bible verses are more challenging than others. "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48) is a case in point. Jesus speaks those words so matter-of-factly -- as if we could just wake up one morning, decide to be "perfect," and then move on to the next thing on our list for the day. But as far as I can tell, perfection doesn't work that way. I can get to good, sometimes even excellent, but not perfect. There's always something wrong with whatever I do, and always lingering flaws in who I am. I can fight the good fight against temptation and sin and even gain significant ground in striving for holiness. But I will never be perfect, at least not on this side of eternity.
So, what gives? Is Jesus asking us to do the impossible, or using irony to teach us that we will never reach perfection? There isn't enough space to squeeze past the fact that Jesus seems to be telling us to do everything perfectly. Drive perfectly, cook perfectly, parent perfectly, pray perfectly, and fulfill all our obligations perfectly. That is not, however, what Jesus is saying. And the key to understanding what the Master means lies in verses that precede this one.

The command to "be perfect" closes a section of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus talks about love. He says, "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." (Mt 5:43-44) Why? So that "you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust." (Mt 5:45) Jesus presses the point further: "For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same?" (Mt 5:46-47) Only then does Jesus tell his listeners to "be perfect."
What does this mean? A few things. First, Jesus commands us to "be" perfect, not to "do" everything perfectly. That's a distinction that is difficult to maintain in our overly busy and deeply utilitarian world. But when he tells us to "be perfect," Jesus has already told us that perfection is not what we think it is. Perfection isn't loving your friends and hating your enemies. Perfection is loving your enemies.
As it turns out, then, we can be "perfect." For we become like the Father when we erase the categories into which we put people and abandon all the criteria by which we count some worthy of love and others unworthy. We become God's children when we decide to let his heart lead ours. His heart sends the sun and rain on the bad and unjust no less than on the good and just. The heart of the Father is overflowing with mercy.
Likewise, the heart of the Son is boundless compassion. As St. Paul observes, "while we were still helpless, (Christ) died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Rom 5:6-8) No wonder Jesus gives his disciples "a new commandment" on the night he was betrayed. "Love your neighbor as yourself" falls short. To follow Christ means measuring by a new standard: we must love each other as he has loved us. (See John 13:34)
The Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced and crowned with thorns, is a portrait of God loving his enemies. In the suffering and death of Christ, God gave himself, totally, irrevocably, and indiscriminately to every human soul, regardless of whether or how we would respond. God loves us all; the savior opens his heart to all of us, those who believe and those who don't. By grace, we can follow his example and "be perfect, just as our heavenly Father is perfect," not only in eternity, but here where there are enemies to love and now when we can choose to do so.

- Jaymie Stuart Wolfe is a Catholic convert, wife, and mother of eight. Inspired by the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, she is an author, speaker, and musician, and provides freelance editorial services to numerous publishers and authors as the principal of One More Basket. Find Jaymie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @YouFeedThem.