Perfection

Read: Matthew 5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: In the New Testament there are four different accounts of Jesus' earthly life, ministry, and death/resurrection: The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each Gospel account is named after its author, and each author took a different approach in telling the story. Mark appears to have used the Apostle Peter's memories to put his account together (based on Peter's prominence in the narrative), and Mark seems to have been writing for a Roman audience (since his Gospel is "short and to the point"). Luke was a physician who appears to have interviewed Jesus' earthly family (especially His mother Mary) in creating the most chronologically-accurate account of Jesus; Luke seems to have been recording exact details that would speak to an audience steeped in Greek culture. John states very simply that His account is a sermon, with the intent to invite the reader to "believe that Jesus in the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). As a result, John is not as interested in keeping events in strict chronological order as he is in making sure a full understanding of Jesus' identity is recorded for posterity before John (probably the last surviving Apostle in the 1st century AD) passes from the scene. Matthew, as has already been mentioned earlier in this series, was writing to a Jewish audience with the intention of proving that Jesus was and is the Messiah/Savior promised in the Old Testament. As a result, Matthew organizes his Gospel in the manner of a Jewish teaching document or "lesson plan:" Matthew 5-7 is the first of five large "teaching sections" in the book (which some scholars believe may be intended to reflect the first five books of the Old Testament, which is regarded as "the Law" or "the Law of Moses" for the Jewish people). This section of teaching is known as the Sermon on the Mount, and chapter 5 is essentially Jesus' commentary on the Old Testament. Notice in verse 17 that Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." In this chapter Jesus clarifies Old Testament teaching: He clarifies what it means to be "blessed," the true mission of God's people ("You are the salt of the earth/the light of the world"), and the correct way of understanding and applying important principles of the Law (murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, etc.). Jesus ends chapter 5 with words that seem impossible to those of us living in today's world: "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (verse 48). But the Biblical word for "perfect" means complete or functional for its place/time. Roger Hahn writes, "A rosebud may be perfect as a rosebud, but it will achieve another level of perfection as a fully developed and beautiful rose. To be perfect is to be what God desires us to be at each stage of our spiritual journey. That perfection will grow and develop through years of relationship with Christ."