Monday after the Fourth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 11, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 5:43-48 (NKJV)
5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father 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. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Devotion
From our vantage point, when we hear Jesus say, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect,” our first inclination is to hear God’s Law in all its fury showing us what we are not. That is, we are not perfect. While we reside in this world, the “be perfect” will always accuse us of sin. There is no getting around the Law’s accusation. Quite simply, we are not perfect. One only needs to think of something as simple as the eraser on a pencil to see that we are less than perfect. Were we perfect, there would be no need for the eraser.
But we should think of Jesus’ words in another way, the way of the Gospel. Out of God’s grace and mercy, and through the faith He has bestowed on us, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” United to Christ through Holy Baptism, His perfection is counted as your very own. He sends the Holy Spirit to guide you each and every day of your life to repent of not being perfect, and He brings comfort in the forgiveness of sins. Now, for Jesus’ sake, in the eyes of God the Father in heaven, you are “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” What God declares of you in Holy Absolution is true. Forgiven of all your sins for Jesus’ sake, you are perfect.
Prayer: Grant, O Lord, we beseech Thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by Thy governance, that Thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
