“For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? … So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
This is part of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, when He gave us the Beatitudes. This is a powerful moment in the history of the world and the Catholic Church. Christ is transforming the entire narrative of the Scriptures – our story of salvation. Remember that in the Old Testament, God wanted what was best for His Chosen People, but they often didn’t want it for themselves. They struggled to keep His Commandments, and they often learned discipline through great suffering. Most of the time, the only language they seemed to understand was “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
But Christ has arrived, and everything has changed. He speaks a deeper language, a language of love. The whole point of the Old Testament discipline was to lay the foundation for Christ’s message. We had to learn justice before we could learn how to love. Then, when Christ came, He preached and He was the perfect example of love, the kind of love that is truly unconditional. The Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, and our Gospel reading today are His instructions about how to live out the unconditional love awaiting us in the Heart of God.
Christ reminds us that while being good to good people is a good thing, it is not the best we can be. We were made for more. We were made to love others even when we receive nothing in return – in fact, even when we are persecuted! “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” And on top of that, Christ even calls us to be “perfect!” What does that mean? How are we to be as perfect as God? We’re fallen human beings, after all.
Well, Matthew carefully chose the Greek word “teleios”, the word for “perfect.” This is a unique word that only appears one other time, when Christ asks the rich young man to give up everything and follow Him. Both times, Christ is calling His listeners (including us) to something greater than goodness. He’s calling us to unconditional love and holiness, the kind that empties us of all of our selfishness and fills us up completely with His love. Christ’s words and His death show us that “keeping things even” will never be enough for us, because God made us to love unconditionally. “Give and take” is the gospel of the world, but it isn’t Christ’s Gospel. He calls us to love others as He loves us: unconditionally.
The driver who cut you off in traffic. The poky person in the grocery line. The screaming baby on the airplane. The insensitive relatives. The careless friend. The irritable customer or coworker who blames you for a problem that wasn’t your fault. Christ loves each of them unconditionally – enough to die for them. Do you?
Daily Reading
Second Sunday of Lent
Reading I Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall…
Saint of the Day
Second Sunday of Lent
Reading I Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall…