One of the reasons I made a point of learning Greek was because there were issues in the Christian Scriptures I wanted to solve for myself. It was a high and lofty, and foolish, reason. Why I thought I would solve what others could not I'm not sure. I at least gained some insight into why they were arguing. I also learned that they were equally baffled by what my Master had chosen to leave vague. So, what I did learn is to leave well-enough alone, and take the Scriptures as He has revealed them, not as I would have them.
One of the things I learned in passing was that there was more than one Greek word normally translated "perfect". One is pretty far or actually deeper than my normal understanding of "perfection". My brother was in a band that used it as their name, "Telos." In the philosophy of science, it's where they get the term "teleological", referring to something proven as it runs its course or at the end of something. The way it gets there is through the idea it has in Greek of being "complete". Something has come to its complete end; it's finished, but it also has all of its pieces and parts; missing nothing. This is a very common word translated as "perfect".
In Matthew 5, Jesus raises the bar on His listeners by telling them that their righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. Because that was not enough to dismay them, He then says, "Therefore you will be 'perfect', just as your Father in Heaven is perfect." That, even for a moderately good Jewish person, was too much to process; that went in sideways and stuck in all kinds of wrong ways. That was impossible. Yet that was the charge or challenge from Jesus. But understanding 'perfect' from the Greek word changes somewhat how I understand His challenge, or perhaps it's a statement of future fact.
I can't go back and correct, clean up, or erase the effects of all the dumb wrong things I've done. That makes this challenge really silly. But, going through the process of being sanctified by my Master's Spirit, I fully expect to 'complete' one day, missing nothing I'm supposed to have. Once again my panic is swallowed by the realization that it's not about me. I'm just the object, not the subject of this here exercise; and therefore it's not an exercise in futility. If I see the "beatitudes" as the cornerstones of the rest of Matthew 5, then how this perfection comes about starts to become clear.
When I embrace my poverty before my Master, when I mourn over my rebellion against Him, when I stop trying to take over the world, when my ultimate appetite is for right relating to my Master, when I learn I am free to be merciful to others, when am singular in my pursuit of my Master, when strive to pass on my Master's peace to others around me, and when I am happy to take the hit for my Master; then the other stuff, including being complete missing nothing becomes a natural consequence. It just happens in the normal course of being "blessed".
When all those "attitudes" are mine, I'll show you what I mean, but don't hold your breath for it. Right now, I'm just getting started on hungering and thirsting for that great connection to my Master. I have a long way to go before I learn mercy, feel comfortable wandering into conflict to make peace, and being gentle in my demeanor. Someone tries to attack me or one of my family or friends; I'm not likely to adopt gentleness or peacemaking as a method. I once took on a board of elders at a church which where one was trying to take out the pastor. I told them they were a bunch of "Jim Jones" leading the church toward cool-aid and cyanide. That was me being "gentle and merciful".
I still have a long way to go. I still have a lot to learn, and unlearn. But I sense that I am finally learning whereas before I felt as if I was stuck in detention. I'm making progress, and that is a nice feeling to have. The blessings of my Master are still available, some out there, some right here with me. But I now know that they are the natural effect of the focus inherent in the beatitudes. So, today I will seek to be more merciful to my customers and my family. I will seek to make peace with angry customers and cranky family (and try not to be cranky myself). I will seek that singular focus on being rightly related to my Master; completely.
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