God wants us to be complete

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Today’s gospel concludes the Sermon on the Mount. In it Jesus tells us to keep clean thoughts, to freely lend to those in need, to love our enemies.

Our English version of the Sermon concludes with Jesus saying, “In a word, you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

However, what Matthew wrote was, “You must be complete as your Father is.” God knows the clay we are made of, so he is content with our being the best we can, even if it leaves us well short of perfect.