Matthew 19:21 … To become Perfect (03/13/17)
“If you wish to be perfect then go, sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor. Then you will have Treasure in Heaven … Afterwards, come and follow me.” ~ Jesus (Matthew 19:21)
First & foremost, despite the ego’s flagrantly errant protestations to the contrary (e.g. “But I’m only human,” “But there has to be a balance between caring for others and caring for myself” etc etc) perfection is possible for us all – at the very least in the context Jesus intends in this verse … Please consider:
A) God is perfect Love (Matthew 5:48) …
B) God – and therefore that same Love – resides within us all (John 14:20) … and
C) All we have to do to actualize the same is to selflessly do & caringly be just as Jesus chose to do & be in the Gospels (John 14:12).
Impossible, you say? Over the course of an entire lifetime, of course it is … And yet that is not what we have been Called to do. We have been Called to “be perfect” in our Love for only one instant of our lives – this instant. We simply have to take Life – and Give it perfect Love – one moment at a time (Matthew 6:34) …
Of course, directly tied to this Truth is the self-sacrifice implicit in selling everything you have and giving the proceeds to those who have less – in Caring for the downtrodden repeatedly in small but significant ways (Matthew 25:35-40). For to do otherwise is to fall into a zombie-like existence of monetary gain &/or the monotonous accumulation of material wealth. And as Jesus oh so correctly pointed out, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot [simultaneously] serve both God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24) …
And after said cleansing of the superfluous has been fulfilled, note that the one detaching from such superficialities (and having selflessly given the proceeds to the downtrodden thereafter) “will have treasure in Heaven” – remembering that for Jesus “Heaven” as not a post-mortem reward elsewhere but a pre-mortem Bliss that comes to us during such salvational deeds (Luke 17:20-21 + John 13:15-17 et al).
And what are we to do thereafter? What are we to do after cleansing ourselves from our attachment to all our possessions (if not actually giving away a large portion thereof)? Most importantly, once these self-centered comforts have been washed clean, it is necessary to go forth into Life and “follow” Jesus – i.e. emulate his Way of Loving – i.e. taking up our own unique crosses of courageous self-sacrifice and carrying them daily throughout our lives. (Matthew 16:24)
Amen … Let it be so.
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