Impossible? Really!

Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.


Jesus has a point. Why should we deserve credit for treating those we love well? Everyone should find it easy to be good to those who are good to us. The triumph is to treat people right who treat you wrong. That would be a true testimony to the power of God or the teaching of God. Often I find myself patting myself on the back in some abstract psychological way when all I done is what should be simple. I catch myself because I do know what it feels like to rely on God's Spirit to act appropriately when some thing is going wrong.

Jesus is not about helping us feel proud of our own abiities. He knows that if that was enough we would not have needed the incarnation or crucifixion. At some point we need to learn how to rely on God and trust Him. I know that is not easy for the modern mind wrapped as it is in this false notion that we can make it on our own. Look around at the hostility and violence in our world. You may not have to leave your town or city to find examples, and we know that much of the violence is hidden as family secrets.

On Sunday once again the focus pulled our attention to the reality that we want to get away with just being sorry for our mistakes without any serious desire to change our behavior. In moments of desperation we turn to God, but not for change in our lives just a quick fix to the momentary situation and we wonder why God doesn't seem to help. We want to keep on going along doing the easy things on our own rather than rely on the real power to become a much a better person. I don't know about you but I relish doing the impossible.