+ Today we hear Jesus telling us to be perfect just as God is perfect. That sounds like a tall order, but actually it is quite doable – with the grace and strength that God himself gives. If we truly live the life we receive at our baptism, then we know that we are not like ordinary earthly men and women; we have always a "different" "godly" way of seeing and doing things. We are called to "holiness and perfection of life:" this is our lifelong goal and task. And with the command comes the power to achieve it.
The legal prescriptions of the Old Testament were effective to keep spiritual and moral "law and order" until Christ Jesus could arrive in person to explain them all fully and summarize and restate them in a simple command of LOVE: indeed, love, (he says) as I love you. This is a very expansive, self-sacrificial kind of love; a love that is kind, merciful, forgiving and compassionate – even to those we don't like, even to those who are our enemies.
All men and women are at least "creatures of God" – and some, like us, are "children of God" and "members of Christ!" We owe all at least "common courtesy of recognition and acknowledgment" as "fellow objects of God's care and concern." But we here rejoice and celebrate the "fullness of holiness and perfection that God calls his children to". May we today do nothing to impede our progress along the road to this fullness which will be complete one day in our heavenly homeland.
I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.
No comments:
Post a Comment