Be Perfect, as your Heavenly Father is Perfect

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As we think about this Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 5:38-48) we need to understand the whole context of this series of sayings by Jesus. Last Sunday Jesus declared himself the fulfillment of the Law.  Again, we hear Jesus repeat the phrase, “But I say to you.” This indicates that Jesus is doing something new.

He is not giving us even more rules to follow. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not giving us twelve new commandments like the Ten Commandments to follow with even stricter obedience (Matthew 5-7).

Jesus is introducing something entirely new. We call this the New Law.  We must not think of Jesus’ approach as merely giving a deeper meaning to the old approach. The New Law requires a change in our hearts from the inside out.

The early church believed that the moral life was about conversion and growth in virtue, led by the interior work of the Holy Spirit. Interior conversion and growth in virtue are Jesus’ approach here in the Sermon of the Mount and in the Beatitudes, and we see the same in St. Paul and elsewhere in the New Testament. This is also the consistent view of the Church Fathers, and it was the perennial view of the Church for most of history.

As we hear Jesus’ call each of us to even greater perfection, we must not think this means merely following the rules. Those who try this will inevitably fail. In fact, the rules-bound approach to righteousness is the model of the scribes and Pharisees that we must surpass. This does not change our standards of holiness, but requires a completely different approach to achieving them.

Only those disciples of Jesus who have experienced an inner transformation by the Holy Spirit will be able to follow Jesus in these counsels of perfection. Our journey must be one of continuous conversion. We must place Jesus at the center of our life. We are aided in our journey by the graces we receive in the sacraments, but these graces require our cooperation to bear fruit. Our principle means of cooperation is to grow in relationship with God.

In the topics found in this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus begins with the common understanding of retaliation in his day. Today when we hear, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Exod 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21), this phrase sounds harsh. In the ancient world, however, it was intended to limit the amount of retribution one could take against someone who harmed you. If someone knocks out your tooth, you cannot retaliate by cutting off his or her finger.

Based on this model, the injured person could legally demand a certain level of retribution. Jesus however, says, “Offer no resistance to one who is evil” (Matthew 5: 5:39). Jesus is not dispensing with the principle proportionality in justice, but instead saying that retribution should be left to God alone.

St Paul connects this idea of offering no retribution to Jesus’ next saying about loving our enemies,

Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Rather, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21).

Jesus gives several challenging examples regarding retribution.

First, if someone strikes you on the cheek, offer no resistance and “turn the other one as well” (Matthew 5:39). These words are not directly about physical conflict, but rather about a cultural perception of being insulted. Striking someone takes away the victims honor and results in shame. At the time of Jesus, it was profoundly insulting to smack another person with your hand.

In rabbinic oral traditions written several hundred years after the time of Jesus, the second century AD, Rabbi Jose the Galilean discusses the varying penalties for the insult of striking someone on the cheek. The penalty for smacking someone was 100 shekels, but if the offender used the back of his hand, it was 200 shekels, as it was if someone were to spit on someone else (Mishnah, m. B. Qamma 8:6).

Some have suggested that if the offender uses the same hand, then perhaps ‘turning the other cheek’ would imply using the back of your hand. I am not sure about this. It could merely imply not offering resistance. We also need to be aware of Jesus’ use of dramatic hyperbole.

Although Jesus is clearly talking about retribution for insults, some have tried to extend the meaning of Jesus’ words, “offer no resistance to one who is evil” to mean a declaration by Jesus that Christians should disavow all violence and be complete pacifists.

Here one might propose that “offer no resistance” is a prohibition against killing (Thou shalt not kill) or the murder of the innocent, which implies that Jesus prohibits even violence for legitimate defense of persons and societies. The Catechism points out that this is false. Quoting St Thomas Aquinas, ‘The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one’s own life; and the killing of the aggressor.… The one is intended, the other is not.’” (CCC 2263).

While we can kill as an unintended consequence of self-defense, we cannot kill someone as retribution for his or her crimes.

On the topic of retribution, Jesus also discusses going to court to recover your goods, and resisting the Roman government who conscripts you into temporary service.

I think​,​ without attempting to create a series of new rules to follow, Jesus essentially says, why not rather be wronged in these small things, and just ignore the grievance, or treat the person with unexpected kindness and mercy. Jesus notes, “Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow” (Matthew 5:42).

Of course, we are not sinning, if at times, we pursue the legitimate path of justice, but at other times we can instead choose a more perfect way and display forgiveness and mercy. Many times such behavior is literally an opportunity to be Jesus in the situation.

Jesus moves on to the topic of dealing with our enemies. Non-resistance to evil people regarding our honor and possessions now moves to actively loving our enemies. Jesus notes, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (5:43). While the love of neighbors is scriptural (Leviticus 19:18, including foreigners in the land 19:33-34), ‘hatred of our enemies’ is not found in scripture.

Jesus responds again with a surprising saying. “But I say to you, love your enemies​ ​and pray for those who persecute you” (5:43). This turns the common thinking of the day on its head. 

Whether we are thinking of our personal enemies, or the corporate enemies of Israel that were persecuting them, how can Jesus tell us to love them? Often our personal enemies are those who have proven untrustworthy and perhaps even abused us in some manner. While it is true that trust is earned, and we can justly remove ourselves from their harm, we are still called to forgive them!  In fact our own forgiveness ​from God ​is contingent on our forgiveness of others, perhaps especially our enemies (Matthew 6:14-15).

Jesus calls us to a new level of perfection. “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). This perfection is only possible, however, if we are led by the Holy Spirit to journey through an interior conversion, and then to grow in our imitation of Christ as his disciples. “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A