More to the point, we have the right to be able to TRY to be better than we are currently. One of the prevailing thoughts in our culture–almost from the beginning of our country it may seem–is that we can be better than we are currently. How very much like our Lord and Savior, how very much like our God. Jesus is demanding that we are more than we are currently–maybe even more than we think we can ever become….MAYBE more than is possible for us. In our passage for today we have the final of these formulas (Matthew 5:43-45a): “‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven…” In between there are six times when Jesus says, “You have heard it said….But I tell you….” (see Matthew 5:21ff) These, “But I tell you” phrases take whatever the law once was for the Jews in Jesus’s day and make the adherence to the law more difficult to observe. This passage comes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount which starts with the Beatitudes and ends with an admonition that those who hear his words and act on them will be like a wise man who builds his house not on sand, but on solid rock. The quote above is the last sentence of the gospel reading assigned for today, Independence Day. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Phrases kick it up a notch