“Be Perfect” a Sermon for Epiphany 7 February 20, 2011
“Be Perfect”
Leviticus 19: 1-2;9-18/ 1 Corinthians 3; 10-11; 16-23/ Matthew 5:38-48
7th Sunday of Epiphany/ Year A/ February 20, 2011
What Kind of game is Jesus playing at, telling us to be perfect as God is perfect. That’s impossible we say. No one is perfect. And what about; “Turn the other cheek!” “Give some one your cloak and your shirt! “Go the extra mile.” “Love your enemies!” Are we supposed to just lay down like a beaten dog when someone attacks us? “Pray for our enemies?” Why? They would never pray for us! Come on get real! That’s not the way to survive in the real world. It’s an eye for an eye. Hit me and I hit you back. Persecute or bully me and I will get even if it takes the rest of my life. Then Jesus goes on to cap off these impossible behaviors saying, “Oh yes, and besides all that, be flawless. Perfect, holy!” RIIIGGGHTTT!
It is no wonder we Christians have developed really elaborate techniques for avoiding these commands, impossible and offensive as they are. WE have turned them into spiritual ideals, directed at our souls, not at the outward behavior we exhibit to the world; behavior that makes us hoard stuff, bomb our enemies, and settle for being what one writer calls “spiritual slackers.” Jesus commands are too hard. They demand something we cannot deliver. This text from the Sermon on the Mount shows us Jesus at his “ornery” best, calling us to account for our very lives. But we turn away and attempt to turn them in spiritual mush, suitable for a Hallmark card. As Steven Colbert of the Colbert Report said yesterday:
“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are , or we have to acknowledge he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.” Steven Colbert, The Colbert Report Feb. 19, 2011(http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2hTF9O/www.bordom.net/view/50032/Colbert_quote)
Where did Jesus get this idea? The answer lies in the Jewish past. From the earliest days of the Israelite people there was and understanding that God called the people to a different way of life from that that existed in the world around them. Leviticus, a book we seldom read or even preach, outlines for the chosen people of God an ethical way of living. It sets down what has come to be called the Holiness code of Israel. It lays out the laws and rules of how they were to live. It was a hard lifestyle to live. Even then the people attempted to turn these commands into spiritual practices that would gain them access to the love and grace of God. Take some time and read Leviticus. It will either scare you or make you laugh at some to the absurdity. But it is there for a reason. It is there to provide the framework for how people were to live out the covenant relationship that God had set with the people from the time of Abraham all the way through Moses. Not only “does Leviticus outline our internal spiritual integrity but also our outward behavior in daily life, in the home and in the field, in our words to God and in our words to others; in the neighborhood and in the courtroom; in how the condition of our hearts affects the conduct of our relationships on a day to day basis, it calls us to live it out. At the heart of the Israel’s faith was Love the Lord your God, with your heart, your soul, your mind; and to love your neighbor as your self. In every one of the first three gospels this phrase is spoken. It is, as Jesus said the summation of the whole law. “Go and do likewise.”
How we love God is evident in every action we take. And in taking these actions we bring the holiness of God to bear upon the world and the people around us. “You shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy!” And Jesus matches that same phrase, Saying “Be perfect as your heavenly father (God) is perfect.” Our behavior toward others witnesses, for good or ill, to the very character and nature of the God we worship and serve. This connection is so vital that in both Leviticus and Matthew, the verses outlining our behavior ends with the same phrase “For I am the Lord your God. I am holy” You too will be holy.
Think for a minute of the old cartoons where an angel appears on the shoulder of a character caught in an ethical dilemma. Suddenly a red suited devil lands on the other shoulder. The good conscience encourages right behavior while the bad conscience encourages self-indulgence that causes harm. With every action we make, God speaks to us and says to us “Remember, I am the Lord your God, and I have made you holy. Whenever we open our mouth, open our door, extend our hand in gestures kind or rude, our neighbors catch glimpses of the Lord our God, the Holy One.
The problem is that we have made holiness something unattainable. When talk about being holy, it makes us uncomfortable. It is fine for God to be Holy, but we have a pretty good sense that most of us are not holy- or holy enough. The reality is that we are never holy enough. In fact, our discomfort on the matter has become a commonly understood expression of disdain, “holier than thou.”
Most of us think of holiness or perfection as reserved for a few exceptional people of faith, like Mother Teresa, or the Pope, or The Dalai Lama. Holy people live far removed from us and do with their lives things we cannot, or more likely will not, do with ours. It is our way of letting ourselves off the holiness hook.
To live and believe that way is not Biblical. These texts calls us to remember that we are all on the hook for being holy. God says to Moses, “Speak to all the congregation of Israel and say to them ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Everyone is called to be holy. “Being holy is what anyone created in God’s image is called to be, or better put, to do.”
In these texts, holiness is not characterized by and ethereal state of being, but being in relationship with people and with God every day. You are holy when, harvesting grain, you choose to leave some of the grain you drop or more uncut near the edges, for those who are hungry. Holiness is not always about making grand sacrifices to God or speaking pious prayers. Holiness is not stealing what belongs to somebody else or telling a lie, even if it is harmless. Holiness is being a good employer, paying someone on time for work done. Holiness is confronting those that persecute and bully and calling them to account for their behavior; To turn the other cheek, to pray for them, to show them a different way, the way of Love.
Holiness or perfection is not reserved for God alone or for the hermit in How can I be holy, I’m just me, I’m not a saint, I’m a sinner who falls and fails. The answer lies in how we see holiness. Holiness is when we hold out our hand in forgiveness. Holiness is when we offer food, water, clothing, and shelter to those who have none. Holiness happens when we treat one another as child of God, no matter their race, religion, creed, color, gender or orientation. Holiness is rooted in who we were created to be. We are called to be holy in our life together in the neighborhood, recognizing we are not perfect, but our perfection comes when we place our trust in the one who gave his life for us all. Jesus Christ.
