ON BEING PERFECT
I John 4:16-21
Matthew5:43-48
"Be perfect as your heavenly Father is
perfect."
That's a tall
order! Being perfect, just like God is
perfect! Yet that is what Jesus tells
his disciples they should be. But how is
that impossibility possible? Yes, I know
some people think they are perfect, even though we all know they are not. And when we are sober, we also know we are
not perfect, otherwise we would not regularly confess our sins. So what is Jesus talking about when he tells
his disciples, and therefore also us, to "be perfect as their heavenly
Father is perfect?" We can, of
course, simply shake our heads at this counsel of perfection and move on, thinking
perhaps that Jesus' words are meant for monks and nuns but not for us. Can we really take them seriously? I guess we don't have to if we don't want to
take Jesus seriously But if we do, then
at least, we have to ask ourselves what Jesus meant, and what his words might
mean for us, today?
John Wesley, the
leader of the Evangelical Revival in England in the 18th century, and founder
of the Methodist movement, wrote much about what he called "Christian
perfection." Wesley took Jesus very
seriously on the subject. And whether he
espoused the idea or not, his teaching gave rise to what some Christians call "the second blessing," the idea that after conversion Christians can
be made perfect by the Holy Spirit.
Wesley had in mind some verses in the NT, as in the first letter of John,
that "those who have been born of God do not sin," in fact, "
cannot sin!" (I Jn. 3:9), and that if God dwells in us then his love is
perfected in us. (I Jn. 4:17). Wesley's
teaching on "Christian perfection" and "perfect love" has had
a remarkable influence on the subsequent history of Christianity. It lead to
the Holiness Movement which, in turn, contributed to the rise of
Pentecostalism, and it influenced amongst many others, Andrew Murray Jr. here
in South Africa, whose ministry left such a remarkable legacy. But however we understand it, the notion of
holiness is deeply embedded in Christian tradition as it is in some other
religions.
I recently spoke
at the launch of Denise Ackermann's new book with the its intriguing title Surprised by the Man on the Borrowed
Donkey. It is an excellent read, and
I commend it to you. After many years as
a theological professor and spiritual director, Denise shares with us what, for
her, makes life worth living. She offers
us nine beatitudes modelled on Jesus' teaching, but developed in contemporary
ways in terms of her own experience.
That person is truly blessed, Denise tells us, who is able to embrace
contradiction, find freedom, listen with discernment, is grateful, knows when
enough is enough, can chuckle at the incongruities of life, and is someone open
to receive the blessing of birds! But
there is one more I have not mentioned.
The second of her nine beatitudes is: "Blessed are those who live
into their holiness, for they shall be surprised by wonder." I like that, "Live into holiness"
and be "surprised by wonder!"
But first, with
Denise, we need to acknowledge that the "notion of holiness does not sit
easily in today's world because it smacks of a sanctimoniousness that shuns the
hurly-burly of everyday life." It
is, in short, incongruous in our secular societies. So for most people those who are deemed holy are
not real! Perhaps this is because most
people misunderstand holiness. It has
little to do with religiosity or unworldly piety or haloed people in
stain-glassed windows whom we venerate on occasion. Holy people are real people, they are truly human, living fully in the life of
the world even if some live in monasteries, as did Thomas Merton. Dag Hammarskjold the former Secretary General
of the UN, once wrote, "the path to holiness is through action," And, he would undoubtedly have added, contemplation.
Speaking out of
her own experience, her own struggles with "being holy," Denise came
to the conclusion that becoming holy meant accepting who she was and learning
to live in a way that was "directed towards God." "Denying my holiness," she writes,
"was refusing to accept what God offers all humanity..." to accept
that we are all "made in the image of God." In other words, to be perfect or holy means
becoming what God intends us to be not according to some holiness-mould, but as
Denise, or Peter, Paul and Wendy! To
become perfect or holy is not becoming someone we are not, but being someone
who is becoming more truly the person we are meant to be. In other words, to become whole or complete.
I am reminded of that
remarkable French woman, Simone Weil. During
her short life of 44 years she became a philosophy teacher, worked in a car
factory and as a labourer in the vineyards of France, fought for workers
rights, and briefly fought with the Spanish Republican army. Partly because of her Jewish background she
left France in 1942 for America, but then went to London to serve in the French
Provisional Government in England where she died within a year of TB. In some respects, hers is a strange story, yet
many thoughtful Christians, including Pope John XXIII and the poet T.S. Eliot,
have been influenced by her life and writings. Amongst them is a little book of
letters and papers entitled Waiting on
God in which she recounts her spiritual journey. She tells how on visiting a monastery in
France one day she was encountered by Christ and filled with his presence. But
she refused to be baptised and become a member of the church because she wanted
to identify with all those outside of the church who honestly could not accept
all its doctrines, but were struggling to live good, honest and heroic lives. In waiting on God, she came to believe that
this is what God willed for, that this was her vocation. As much as she would have liked to become a member
of the Church, for her to become the person God willed was her vocation. To live into holiness meant becoming the
person God wanted her to become.
Yes, we are
called to be perfect, to live into holiness, just as God is perfect and
holy. That does not mean trying to
become a saint like someone else; it means becoming the person God wills for
each of us in terms of who we are and where we are. It all has to do with the direction of our
lives -- towards or away from God. Only
then will we be, as Denise says, surprised by wonder at what God has done and
is doing in and through us. To be
perfect is to be completely ourselves, just as God is perfectly and completely
God.
John de Gruchy
Volmoed 26 June 2014
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