Overview:

Saturday of the First Week of Lent

A Reflection for Saturday of the First Week of Lent

“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Find today’s readings here.

Being called to be perfect is difficult to unpack, yet that’s what it seems Jesus is asking of us in today’s Gospel—at least on the surface.

Speaking to his disciples, Jesus implores them to not only love their friends and family but also their enemies. He says to follow God, one must open themselves up to a greater love than what is to be expected. It’s easy to open one’s arms to those close to them, but what separates those who believe and trust in God from those who don’t is the capacity to love one’s enemy. This is already a difficult challenge, but then, Jesus drops an even bigger one. He calls his disciples to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Yikes.

I remember hearing this passage as a child and panicking. “My parents and everyone close to me always said that nobody is perfect and fine to make mistakes, but now Jesus is telling me to be perfect?” My young mind raced wondering if I was like the “pagans” Jesus mentions in the reading. Of course, my young mind quickly moved on to another fixation, and the fears were lost in the shuffle of daily life. 

In high school, I reencountered the passage in a theology class on the New Testament (shout out to Mr. Milazzo). When I read the passage this time, I was not filled with the same existential dread I had been plagued by as a child and instead was intrigued by the statement. Jesus, who was pretty much the original guy to say “Hey, it’s fine, you can make mistakes,” is telling us to be perfect. It didn’t make sense to me. Instead, I did my best to approach these words less literally.

Jesus isn’t calling us to be perfect but rather to act more in the image and likeness of God. He tells us not to fall into complacency and love lazily and instead step up and face the challenge of loving an enemy. And to do this does make use closer to the perfection and selflessness of God. 

Life today feels increasingly polarized. It feels more difficult to love my enemies than even just a few years ago when I was studying this reading. But it also makes Jesus’ words all the more important. Jesus has always prepared us for the challenge, so there is no reason to stop trying now. I find myself compelled by my previous encounters with this Gospel to do my best to listen to what Jesus is asking us to do here and try my best to open my heart up to those who I consider to be “enemies.”

Jesus has never asked us to be perfect but he does expect us to step up to his challenge.

William Gualtiere is an O'Hare Fellow at America.