1 Corinthians 3 : 10 11, 16 23 Matthew 5 : 38-48 We live in very cynical times. Sermon Normally I try to avoid making sweeping generalizations in my sermons, but sometimes it is nice to start with a dramatic statement. We live in very cynical times, when our expectations about our major institutions are rather low. So when we find out that the government has been spying on us, or that we have not been told the truth about some public matter, or that a big corporation has been cheating on its taxes, for the most part, we shrug our shoulders and we moan a little, but we are not surprised and we are not shocked. We live in very cynical times, when our expectations about the people around us are rather low. So when we find that a politician has been corrupt, or that a leading sportsman was taking banned substances, or simply that someone we admired has not been as admirable as we had imagined, we might be disappointed or feel let down, but we are not surprised and we are not shocked. We live in very cynical times, and perhaps one result of that is that we come to have rather low expectations for ourselves. This may simply be a consequences of the other attitudes I have described. If we assume that the people around us are going to cheat and lie and manipulate things in order to get on, well why should we be any different? Why should I expect that I can be better, more moral, more honest, more caring, than anyone else? Or we could say that our low expectation of ourselves is a consequence of bigger forces which affect us all, contemporary ways of thinking which unconsciously, or even consciously shape our attitudes. Karl Marx has explained that we are victims of economic systems. Sigmund Freud has explained that we are victims of our childhood. Modern science explains that we are victims of our genetic defects. If my life gets messed up, its not my fault, there is nothing I can do about it. So I can be selfish, and I
can be greedy, and I can get tired of caring about anyone else, and I can lose my temper and I can think up ways to get what I want, because that s just the way I am, and because that is just the way everyone is. Best just to accept it and get on with it. We live in very cynical times, when our expectations are rather low. And here, today, in the midst of all of that, we have heard words of Jesus which are as stunning to our ears as they must have been to those who first heard them: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Who believes in perfection nowadays? Who believes in it as a theoretical possibility, never mind a personal goal? I have done the required training to be allowed to supervise those who are in training to be ministers in our Church, and one of the things we are taught to do is to help the student to set measurable goals and attainable objectives. Many of you will be familiar with all that sort of language. Well Jesus doesn t appear to have done such training. He certainly would not be allowed to supervise a young minister. And, many might argue, perhaps he should not be allowed to influence us. Setting such a high target is only going to create a sense of failure, it is only going to drag us down and demoralise us. Perhaps it is better for us to settle for lower expectations. Well in case these words of Jesus are staring to have that effect on you, let s remember that perfection was not the level which Jesus ever demanded. In all his stories and parables and illustrations, it is those who have failed and who know that they have failed, who are welcomed and blessed. In all of the examples we read about it is the sick and the broken and the lost that he reaches out to. He even says that he has not come for people who are righteous but for sinners. Perfection is clearly not the standard by which we are judged. It is however, the goal which we are to aim for. We are made in the image of God, and God is perfect, therefore it is natural that there should be something in us which will strive for some kind of perfection. If we allow other voices to drown out that persistent inner whisper, or if we allow other
forces to smother that inner desire, we are not accepting the reality of who we are, we are actually denying the reality of who we are. This is a call for us to be who we can be, to be the people who, deep down, we would like to be. It is a call for us to become more like God. What on earth does that mean? Well the words come in the context of Jesus saying what it means. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. This is how we give expression to the image of God within us. It is a call for us to look at people through the eyes of God who sends sunshine and rain on good people and bad alike. To treat people with the generosity of God, who does not seek vengeance on those who wrong him, but who forgives and goes the extra mile. This is not a call for us to be perfectly good in every possible way, as if God will reward us if we attain 100% or punish us if we don't. It is a call for us to become like God, in the generosity with which we judge one another, the generosity with which we treat one another, the generosity with which we forgive one another and care for one another. That is not to pretend it is easy. Anyone can do the easy stuff. But nor should we imagine that we are all hopeless cases and that there is no point in hoping for anything better than what we have known up to now. Jesus says. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. The word translated as "perfect" is not the word used do describe attaining full marks in some moral test. It doesn t mean without fault. Rather it is the word you might use to refer to a "perfect apple, or a perfect flower. The sense of the word is that we need to be ripe, mature, fully developed, complete. Eugene Peterson, in his recent translation, expresses the verse in this way: In a word, what I m saying is, Grow up. You re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.
To deny the possibility of us growing towards this kind of maturity is like a child denying the possibility that it might ever grow up. And such denial becomes self fulfilling prophecy, holding back our growth and limiting our potential. Into our negativity and cynicism, Jesus calls us to seek perfection, to seek a whole-hearted, commitment to God's creation and to every person in it. We are called to learn to look around us with the eyes of God, to scan the horizon - not first for what we can get out of life but what we can contribute to life for the peace and well-being of all. To do this because learning and practicing it will move us from being small minded selfish beings, to beings who know and express the image of God which is planted within us. And if Jesus is willing to say that this is possible for people like us, who am I to contradict him? There is no point in trying to deny the difficulty of all this. There is no point in sweeping under the pulpit the fact that sometimes people wound us so badly that we can at best love them only from a distance because the relationship is shattered. Nor is this is meant to deny that governments need to punish those who intentionally do damage to others for their own gain. And none of this is meant to deny that sometimes the process of learning to practice forgiveness and to love our enemies can take many, many years. But all of this is meant to say that in a world full of jagged edges and crooked people and complex decisions, Jesus words call us to reach for something better, because something better is worth reaching for. In a world of frightened egos, continuing crime, hurt feelings, genuine enemies, and well meaning folk who just mess things up, Jesus words remind us that something better is possible, and that something better is possible for us. If we need an inspiring example we need only remember that despite enduring the worst that his enemies could throw at him, Jesus, in a moment of dying agony still said: Father, forgive them they know not what they are doing. Jesus on the cross did not look anything like a perfect human being. But he was being to others the way God was to him, and that is a wonderful goal for us all to aim for, whatever situations we may face. Perhaps there is one final thing which needs to said about becoming perfect as God is perfect. It is not meant to be a solo project. First of all because
it is a community thing. The whole letter to the Corinthians is an encouragement for the people to stick together and to keep helping each other to work through their many imperfections. It is community with other people that we can have our illusions about ourselves broken, so that we recognise our need. It is in community that we have opportunities to practice forgiveness and to receive forgiveness when we fail. It is in community that we find encouragement, and guidance, and strength. And it is not meant to be a solo project because, as the whole New Testament makes clear, it is not about personal achievement. All that we can do is to build on the foundation which Christ has laid for us, and always we will depend on a spiritual energy which is not our own, but which comes from beyond us, which comes from the same God who placed in us the desire to strive for perfection in the first place. Let me close with the words which Paul would write to the Church in Corinth, not in the first letter, the one we have been reading from, but the second letter. For he closes by saying this: Finally, brothers... Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)