Responsibility to Be Perfect

This is my last MedComm series!  At college I had to write something called a mediation commentary each week.  Each term had a different character theme like design, authority, or in this case, responsibility.  Each week, we were also given a command from Jesus or a character quality to think about and meditate on, and one of the names of God described int he Old Testament, then write about in connection with responsibility.  Here was the first one...

Be Perfect Meditation Commentary

“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
—Matthew 5:46-48

Name of God

•Jehovah- M’Kaddesh (יהוה מקדש): The Lord Who Sanctifies

“Be perfect.”  It is hard to think of two more daunting words in the English language, particularly in a society that constantly tells us that no one is perfect.   That is part of what makes this concept an interesting one.  Society tells us that we do not have a responsibility to be perfect.  We only have a responsibility to reciprocate.  If someone loves us, we love them back.  If they do not treat us the way that we want to be treated however, we have no responsibility to treat them the way they want to be treated.  If someone rips us off, we have no responsibility to think or act kindly towards them.  After all, we are only humans and we do have our limits.  Our responsibility only goes so far.

The Greek word that Jesus uses in the above verses for ‘be perfect,’ is an interesting one.   According to Strong’s dictionary, it is the word “teleios,”and means: complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.); completeness, and is translated: “of full age, man, perfect.”  In essence, it seems that Jesus is telling us to grow up and act the way our Father in heaven acts!  This makes sense in terms of responsibility.  What age group does one associate with responsibility vs. irresponsibility?  When a person becomes an adult it is understood that that person acquires much more responsibility that children do not have.  Children have small responsibilities, but often only reciprocate based on whether or not they are being benefited.  Only on rare occasions are children responsible for anyone else but themselves, (at least in American middle class families, it seems).  But to be complete, Jesus tells us to grow up and be perfect.  Immediately, our brain rebels against this concept because of its impracticality!  Humans simply cannot be expected to bear such an enormous load of responsibility in caring so much about other people that do not even reciprocate.

However, the emphasis in this passage is on watching the example of our Father, which is very important.  As the Hebrew name for God cited above indicates it is the LORD who sanctifies us to make us complete.  It is only on the basis of our Father’s action towards us that we are able to achieve such a seemingly outlandish command.  When we focus on Him, though, and are reminded of the incredible ways He works for us and is responsible for us, even though we do nothing to deserve it, this command suddenly becomes much more doable because the focus is no longer on us, but on Him.  He already acts this way.  We just have to follow in His footsteps, and take His help in carrying out this command.