Reaching Our End

We are asked to be perfect.  What does that mean? Perhaps when we hear it, we think of acing everything.  Perfect attendance.  100’s.  No mistakes. No faults, no weaknesses.  But how?  We are human. How can Jesus ask that of us?

In the Greek, the word translated into “perfect” actually comes from the word meaning “end.”  Not the end of something, but the end for which we were created.  And we were created for love and joy.  So perhaps Jesus was not saying that we MUST be perfect and make no mistakes, but rather we must always remember that we were loved into existence and that love and God is our end, that which our lives are directed. We are sinners and we are human – we will make mistakes but that doesn’t make God love us any less. God is our end. May we live our lives knowing this truth – the truth that our end is joy and peace and love, life with the Father, and when we live striving for that we will have reached our end.  So, when Jesus tells us to be perfect just as our Heavenly Father is perfect, He is saying to us, “Know that you are loved because you live in me and the Father and I are one, who is love its very self.”

Retaliating with Love

Our natural human instinct tells us to respond in an equal or greater manner when something is done to us. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” It only makes sense, right?  We can’t let people walk all over us and we need to let them know that. That’s our human instincts. But we have been touched by the divine and Jesus came so that we may share in His divinity. And because of that, how we respond ought to be different.

Jesus offered a drastically different approach to retaliation. Instead of slapping someone back we are asked to turn the other cheek. Rather than just doing the bare minimum we are asked to go the extra mile.  And when someone asks something of us, we are asked to not turn our backs on them, even if they had not been kind to us. This goes against our instincts. This only makes sense if and when we realize that Jesus was trying to tell the people that “it’s never about you.” Life is not about “you.” Our lives are to be lived for others. When we come to know how much we are really loved by the Father, we will come to understand why Jesus said what He said and why it makes sense. We are not to retaliate with force or non-action. We are to retaliate with love. It is love that will move hearts.

Force or “pay back” is really an attempt to make ourselves feel better, but it really doesn’t work. Think about your own experiences. When I say something bad back or try to get someone back, I usually end up feeling like a jerk. That’s because deep down I know that’s not what I was made for. I was made for love.  And so are you. So let us turn the other cheek and go the extra mile today.

Made for Life

Our world today has seemingly adopted a culture of death. This culture of death is disguised as the freedom to choose and the freedom to live life as one sees best and ultimately as happiness. But as its name implies, this culture ultimately leads to death. Pursuing life in a selfish and self-centered manner will lead not only to unhappiness but also death. What is life without love?  What is life when other people are not around you? That is no life. That is death.

Life only makes sense with love. And love, true love, is laying down one’s life for another. True love is selfless and others-centered, but we can only come to realize this when we see and know how much we have been loved and continue to be loved. God loved us so much that He became man for us, and not only that, He came to us in a manner that aims to sustain us not just for a moment but for eternity. God became man because He wanted us to know that we were made for life and for love. The only way to live and to love is to be fed by the bread that came down from heaven, by which we have eternal life. It’s time to say goodbye the to culture of death. We were made for life. Let’s start living.