March 12, 2022

Laura Sweat Holmes

(Not) Putting a Good Face on It ~ Matthew 5:43-48

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offers his most challenging teaching yet: Love your enemies.  Pray for those who persecute you.  Be perfect (Matthew 5:43, 48). Those commands are so tough, many readers take one look and say, “Nice ideas, but they don’t make sense in the real world.”

Those readers are right, and that’s part of the power of these commands to create a different world.  But while we may know what loving enemies and praying for those who persecute us means (whether or not we do it), being perfect is a little more confusing.  There’s always pressure on leaders to be better, to make fewer mistakes, to risk only if they know that it will pay off.  Perfectionism, whether from forces without or within, is a heavy burden.  If that’s the kind of thing Jesus is commanding, many might say that they’re already bearing that yoke, and it’s neither easy nor light.

But being perfect, as Jesus is describing it, is not about living a mistake-free life.  This same Gospel shows Peter surprised that he’s going to have to forgive his sibling far more than seven times (Matt 18:22); mistakes and forgiveness are part of the deal.  Being perfect, however, is more accurately translated as being “whole” or consistent.  Wholeness of body (actions) and mind (speech).  Wholeness of heart (intention) and body (action).  Wholeness of love, for neighbor and enemy.  Not putting a good face on it, but putting our whole selves into it.