For those of you
who don’t know, I grew up in Hagerstown, Maryland. Life took me into New
England as I was discerning my call to ministry. I ended up coming through the
New England Synod. There was this unusual language that I often heard when my
wife, Robin, would talk to her clergy friends. They would get together and joke
about how they are ENTJ’s or INTJV’s. I often still hear it among colleagues.
I constantly asked, “what is that
language you are speaking?” The response was that it was their results from a
test called Myers-Briggs. It is a personality test. They would eventually look
at me and say, “what are you?” The only thing that I could come up with was
that my psychological test was done at the Massachusetts Hospital for the
Criminally Insane, so, I hope I am okay. I never had a Myers-Briggs test
before; yet, I felt like I got left out of some club or insider thing. What was
I?
This last verse that Jesus says in
today’s Gospel reading got me really thinking. “Be perfect, therefore, as your
heavenly Father is perfect.” That is easy for Jesus to say…”be perfect!” This
is our fourth week in the Beatitudes. We started out with those blessings. We
heard about the manner in which we are called to live out the blessings by
helping each other. If we would have been here last week, we would have heard
Jesus proclaim that he had come “not to abolish, but to fulfill the law.”
Today, we hear Jesus tell us to be
perfect! That is absurd isn’t it? How can we be perfect? Here’s a hint…if you
think you are, wait 5 minutes because someone will come along and tell you
differently…and we all know we are not perfect! There is only one that is
perfect and without blemish…and that is God’s Son, Jesus. So what is this
perfect about? Without getting too “Greeky,” the word can be translated as
perfect. The word can also imply “completion, an intended goal, or determined
end.” In those three cases, Jesus could be asking us to be persistent. Be
persistent, work to completion, work toward the intended goal…Jesus is telling
us to keep working at “IT.”
What is the “IT.” Let’s go back to
our beatitudes. Blessed are you the poor in Spirit…all those blessings are
goals that Jesus has. “that the kingdom of God is brought here on earth and not
left to some place far away. Two weeks ago we heard that the blessings for the
hungry, the poor in spirit, the meek, the peacemaker…all those blessings are
the goals that Jesus sets for us. Remember, “Blessed are you…” when we lift up
and help one another then the blessings that Jesus talks about helps us to
bring that slice of the kingdom of God into our earthly world!
Jesus calls us to be persistent!
Keep working and don’t stop! Keep trying to bring my kingdom here to the earth!
That puts a whole different perspective on things, doesn’t it? Jesus is telling
us that it is not going to be easy to bring peace, feed the hungry, help the
meek! It can become frustrating, and tiring, and so many other adjectives we
can throw in.
But we are called to persist. Why?
Because it can put the very last part of this Gospel…this Good News we call the
“Great Commission,” in jeopardy! If we stop trying to bring God’s Kingdom here
to the earth…if we stop feeding the poor, caring about the poor in Spirit
(ourselves included); if we stop trying to lift each other up and just continue
to tear down, then we are putting the Commission that Jesus tells, “go and make
disciples…baptize…and forgive,” then all of what Jesus tells us is for naught.
In fact, if Jesus hadn’t persisted in telling the women to “go and tell” the
disciples to meet him there…THERE WOULD BE NO GREAT COMMISSION! There would
just be “the end.”
Jesus persists throughout this
Gospel of Matthew! He persists in trying to teach, to reveal who he is, God’s
Son, and tell his disciples that death will not have the last word. Even at the
point of his crucifixion, he persists in seeking forgiveness for others. He
persists in forgiving Peter who denied him, AND he persisted in appearing to
the disciples to call them to go tell anyone and everyone that the Son of God
is ALIVE!
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we
are called to be persistent. To set out on the goal that Jesus has for us in
making sure that God’s Kingdom is here on earth. We have a mission statement
that has been around for quite some time. It is a statement that is clear and
calls us to be persistent in our faith and in our love for Christ. We are
called to Unite in Christ, Grow in Faith, Serve in Love, and Share the Good
News of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I still never figured out exactly
what I was; a E(xtrovert) or I(introvert) but I do know that I am a persistent
person at times. And I know that we all possess that persistence quality and
may we be persistent in our lives of discipleship of Jesus Christ, our Savior
and Lord: AMEN!
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