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Perfect

Estote ergo vos perfecti

June 20, 2023

Mass at St Aloysius this morning was said by the young, slender, darkly-bearded, glasses-wearing priest (Still haven’t gotten his name.  In previous sermons he’d revealed that he comes from a Texan Hispanic family.)  His enunciation is clear when reading from the Gospels and his short homilies that follow are quite good.

Anyway, here was the reading for today:

Gospel, Matthew 5:43-48

⁴³ 'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy.

⁴⁴ But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you;

⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike.

⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much?

⁴⁷ And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional?

⁴⁸ Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.'

Bible readers will recognize this passage from the Sermon on the Mount, which comprises most of Matthew, Chapters 5-7.

Jan Brueghel the Elder (Flemish, 1568 - 1625)

Sermon on the Mount, 1598, Oil on copper

In this small  [10 1/2 × 14 1/2 in.] painting, the figure of Christ is almost lost amid the dense, multi-colored crowd. Identified by a pale yellow halo, Christ stands on a rustic podium near the crowd's center. He presents his sermon on the conditions of blessedness. Behind Christ, his disciples pay rapt attention, but many in the diverse throng prefer to socialize with one another. In the foreground, a gnarled gypsy tells fortunes and a vendor sells pretzels. To the right, below a distant vista, a man in a long coat and dark hat directs two women in elegant gowns toward the crowd.  Jan Brueghel the Elder painted this festive scene on a thin sheet of copper. The work's bright colors, fine details, and enamel-like finish are accentuated by the hard copper support. Brueghel's unmatched ability to describe figures and landscape in great detail transforms the painting into a jewel-like object intended for close scrutiny. [Getty Museum]  (Finding the Lord in this painting is like finding Waldo.  My rough guess is that each figure, including Jesus, is less than a centimeter wide.  How did Brueghel do that?)

The young priest began his homily thusly:  “’Be perfect!”  Heh heh.  No problem, right?  Just be perfect.”  He elicited a small collective chuckle from the morning’s sparse assembly.  He then went on to suggest that the word “perfect” in verse 48 probably had a different meaning from how it is commonly used today, as in, for instance, when you order something at a restaurant and your server responds, “Perfect!  I’ll have that up for you right away.”  Or what Lowell meant in his poem about a perfect June day.  In fact, down through the centuries it has elicited much controversy among Biblical scholars.

For example, according to the website Biblical Hermeneutics—Stack Exchange, “Jesus concludes with the statement, in V48 which is widely misunderstood. The operative word here is τέλειος meaning (a) complete in all its parts, (b) full grown, of full age, (c) specially of the completeness of Christian character (Strongs). Thus, God is asking His people to be as mature about their dealings with people, even those that are not their friends. V48 could thus be translated:

‘Therefore, be mature in your dealings with people just as your Father is kind and mature in His dealings with even the wicked.’” (Dottard's paraphrase) [greek - What did Jesus mean by "be perfect" in the Sermon on the Mount? -  Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange]

Since this is my personal reflection on today’s Gospel reading, it perhaps will not be amiss if I attempt to explain my own feelings and thoughts on the idea of—or the aspiration for-- perfection, completeness, maturity, etc., in the moral sense.   In short, I do not aspire to become perfect.  Not that that I don’t believe it’s achievable—but probably not by me, at this stage of my life.  Maybe for some other people. 

I’ll refer to another book that frankly has had a much greater influence on my spiritual development, (such as it is):  Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, published in 1953 by Alcoholics Anonymous.  The author is generally acknowledged to be Bill W., a co-founder of A.A.  In Chapter 6, which deals with the 6^th Step (Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character), Bill writes:

“Many will ask, ‘How can we accept the entire implication of Step Six?  Why—that is perfection!’ This sounds like a hard question, but practically speaking, it isn’t.  Only Step One, where we made the 100% admission we were powerless over alcohol, can be practiced with absolute perfection.  The remaining eleven Steps state perfect ideals.  They are goals toward which we look, and the measuring sticks by which we estimate our progress.  Seen in this light, Step Six is still difficult, but not at all impossible.  The only urgent thing is that we make a beginning, and keep trying.”

And in the next paragraph, “We shall need to raise our eyes toward perfection, and be ready to walk in that direction.  It will seldom matter how haltingly we walk.  The only question will be Are we ready?"

Bill was raised in the New England Protestant tradition and used many Christian principles in formulating the Steps and Traditions.  To this recovering (still after thirty-six years) person, it sounds as if he had been particularly influenced by the Lord’s words (according to Matthew), on the Mount. 

Whether espoused by Matthew 2000 years ago or Bill W. just 70 years ago (about the time of my own birth), moral perfection still seems for me an unrealistic ambition.  Gradual improvement (and by “gradual” I don’t mean “steady”) is more achievable.  Am I ready?  Yes, I think so.

 

 Latin Version

{5:43}Audistis quia dictum est: Diliges proximum tuum, et odio habebis inimicum tuum.

{5:44} Ego autem dico vobis: Diligite inimicos vestros, benefacite his, qui oderunt vos: et orate pro persequentibus et calumniantibus vos:

{5:45} ut sitis filii Patris vestri, qui in cælis est: qui solem suum oriri facit super bonos, et malos: et pluit super iustos et iniustos.

{5:46} Si enim diligitis eos, qui vos diligunt, quam mercedem habebitis? nonne et publicani hoc faciunt?
{5:47} Et si salutaveritis fratres vestros tantum, quid amplius facitis? nonne et ethnici hoc faciunt?
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{5:48} Estote ergo vos perfecti, sicut et pater vester cælestis perfectus est.