Be Perfect! Or Else...

St. Matthew 5:48: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus says here that we must be perfect. Interesting verse, this. Everyone knows we can't be perfect, right?

So what of it? Why would Jesus say this when He knows darn well we can't be perfect? Did He really mean it? Is it a mere suggestion?

Here are a few things we can learn from this, and in the process, we can solve this passage.

1. Jesus not only says we have to be perfect, He actually demands that we are perfect. There is no wiggle room here. We must be perfect.

2. We must be perfect because God is perfect and God will not demand anything less than perfection from us. To do so would be for God to lay aside His Holiness. Which He won't do.

3. Because God demands perfection, this also means that sin is *never* OK. God is not OK with us sinning, ever.

OK, so far so good right? Certainly all Christians agree that sin is not OK. After all, Christ died for that. And if you do think sin is OK, well, you're wrong, and I know a guy who hung on a cross that agrees with me.

The crux of the answer to this passage lies in who we are, who God is, and what we are capable of.

According to Holy Scripture, humans are not God (except Jesus). Keep that in mind. So then, what are we? Well, we are sinful. Romans 5:12-21 is a good place to start in showing that. Not to mention Romans 3:23.

So, if we are sinful, and Jesus demands that we be perfect...how does that work?

The answer is something completely foreign to our sinful self who loves to think we are good and can do whatever we want by ourselves.

The answer is that God Himself gives what He requires out of love because we cannot meet this demand of perfection.

His Name is Jesus, and He not only was perfect on our behalf, but also died and rose on our behalf.

And because of Him and His work, we are forgiven, because frankly, we need it. We aren't perfect. We are incapable of such. But Jesus was and is perfect and He gives that to us. He gave it to us in real time at Calvary, and He continues to come to us in grace and forgiveness in Word and Sacrament.

And what could possibly be better news than that?