Skip to main content

You Must Be Perfect

What comes to your mind when you hear the following words of Jesus (Yeshua)?

“You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
(Luke 6:36 & Matthew 5:48)

The opening phrase -- “You must be perfect. . .” -- has generated many debates over the centuries and caused a great deal of confusion and guilt. The dictionary definition for the word “perfect” that comes to most peoples’ minds is usually “completely free from faults or defects.”

Obviously, that’s a high goal to try to reach, but when you add the second phrase – “. . . as your heavenly Father is perfect” – the goal goes much higher. Did Jesus really expect anyone listening to him to “be as perfect as God”?

Dr. David Flusser (Jesus © 1997 The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem; p. 83) places the words of Jesus in their first century cultural and historical setting to unlock the meaning of this very important teaching of Jesus.

The best way of translating this saying is:

“There must be no limit in your goodness,
as your heavenly Father’s goodness knows no bounds.”

Matthew 5:48 is merely the conclusion to a short homily where Jesus teaches that God reaches out in love to all people, regardless of their attitude and behavior toward Him:

“. . . for He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

In this Jesus is not far from the humane attitude of other Jews. R. Abbahu said:

“Greater is the day of rainfall, than the day of resurrection.
For the latter benefits only the pious, whereas the former benefits pious and sinners alike.”

R. Abbahu lived about 300 CE, but there is a similar saying dating from Jesus’ time. Thus, it is no wonder that in such a spiritual atmosphere Jesus drew his daring conclusion:

“Love your enemies!”
(Matthew 5:44).

In other words:

“Return love to those who hate you.”
or
“Do good to those who hate you.”
(Luke 6:27).

Keep in mind that for the “Jesus of history”, Yeshua, “love was an action, not an emotion.” Did Jesus expect to have a bunch of perfect followers? Not anymore that he expected to have a bunch of followers that never became angry. In both teachings he used something that grabbed the audience’s attention.

Take another look at the examples Jesus gave of “God’s love” – sunshine & rain. This reveals a key insight – make doing acts of love (acts of righteousness, acts of TOV) a normal part of your life, practice doing them and you will become better (more perfected).

Shalom,
Jim Myers


Sign up for the Y Team and receive all of the team information.
Click Here for an Invitation to Join

Donations appreciated, no amount is too small.
Click Here to Donate



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jots and Tittles

Amen! I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law . . . (Matthew 5:18) What are jots and tittles? One thing they are is evidence that Yeshua, the Jesus of history, and his followers were very familiar with the Hebrew language. However, to understand this we have to trace the journey of the Hebrews words of Yeshua into the Greek language of the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament and then into the English translations we read today. In order to help you follow that journey I will use English transliterations of Greek and Hebrew words, which means I will replace their letters with English letters that are their equivalents. By the way, “Yeshua” is an English transliteration of the Hebrew word that is his name. If we use a Greek text of Matthew 5:18, the Greek word translators read for “ jot ” is “ iota .” Iota is the name of a Greek letter. It is usually transliterated by the English “ i .”  Howeve
Post a Comment
Read more

Does the Name of a Day Make a Difference?

The calendar was very important in Yeshua’s Jewish world. A week in his life consisted of seven day, just like our weeks today. There were some important differences, however. Does the name of a day make a difference? Try using Yeshua’s names of each day instead of Emperor Constantine’s and find out. Read the complete blog at -- https://therealyesua.blogspot.com/2018/04/does-name-of-day-make-difference.html
Post a Comment
Read more

“Salvation” the Big Elephant in the Room

Beliefs about “ salvation ” are the biggest barriers to open discussions about the differences between different Christian group and about Yeshua , the “ Jesus of History .” This is completely understandable when so much is at stake in the minds of “believers” – literally going to Heaven or Hell! The findings below, published in World Christian Trends AD 30 – AD 2200 by David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson (© 2001 by David B. Barrett; William Carey Library, Pasadena, CA; p. 33), surprise many Christians: In 1970 global Christianity had 18,630 denominations/paradenominations. In 2000 global Christianity had 33,820 denominations/paradenominations. Estimates in 2017 indicate there are now probably 40,000 or more. Most of these are Protestant (protest + ant) and that should give those engaged in political protesters a hint as to where "just protesting leads." Paradenominations are groups with religious agendas that specialize in specific areas, i.e., families,
Post a Comment
Read more