Recently I heard a speaker say, “The only difference between me and God is that God doesn’t want to be me.”
He then began to explain some of his issues with pride. He believed he knew more than others, could fix other people, had the right to judge others, believed he was more perfect than other people, had the right to get even with his enemies, and could get along well without the help of anyone else. In short he had a “God complex.” So he humbly began to confess this, and let God be “God” in his life, instead of him trying to be his own god. He said he resigned his position of being “superintendent of the world.”
With this in mind, we take a close look at today’s gospel selection (Matthew 5:43-48). The closing line tells us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Isn’t this another way of saying “pretend you are God?” Is Jesus telling us to do the things that God does? Yes he is, as long as we understand what God does.
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father…”
Whoa! I can’t do that! Only God can love the mean people who hurt me and make fun of me. And I’m not even sure he loves the hateful, obnoxious people who try to make my life miserable. Jesus, however, says: “You’re wrong. Yes you can do what God does because you are his child—and as children grow up, they develop the power to do what they watched their parents do.”
What else does God do that I’m suppose to imitate?
“…he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense do you have?”
When God sends “his” sun out in the morning, does he let it shine on me and his other children only? Does he set up a system so that the sun shines on my backyard but not on my mean neighbor’s? And does he water my lawn with his rain and let my mean neighbor water his own lawn? God does not put any restrictions on his generous blessings. Even criminals get as much sun and rain as we so-called “good” people of the world. Jesus says that when we direct our love toward those who can pay us back, we will get payback, but not in “kingdom dollars.” To be like God and earn his favor we must go beyond the common sense limitations that ordinary humans use. We must let the light of our love and the water of our prayers go out, even to the mean neighbor next door. How is this possible? Because these are the rules of the kingdom that God’s children have the power to obey.
So Jesus played a trick on us this morning. He refined the word perfect. “Perfect” does not mean flawless or being ranked among those humans who are successful, law-abiding and powerful. “Perfect” doesn’t mean we never sin or break rules. “Perfect,” for Jesus, means to do all we can to let our light shine as far as it can and upon as many people as we can, just the way God does.
“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Today we pray that God will pour out a new dose of the Holy Spirit in us, so that our identity as his children will deepen and our power to love others wthout limit will increase astronomically.
“Who keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry” (Ps 146:6).
