"Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt. 5:48)."

As Fr. William Clark, O.M.I. tells us:

"Jesus' exhortation is truly troublesome, and Scripture scholars know this ..."


Snippet from his article The problem of being perfect: A real versus an ideal spirituality. In the May 2011 issue of the Homiletic & Pastoral Review.

After giving us the above, he goes on to discuss different versions of Mt. 5:48 given in various alternative translations.

Then, the good father tells us:

"Despite these various versions, the problem remains.

"The Nestle Greek text and the corresponding Latin clearly suggest the traditional translation, Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.

"Read in that way, the passage can hardly mean what a literal, surface understanding of the words suggest.

"One interpretation of this passage is based on what meaning perfect had for a Jew of St. Matthew's time.

"It is quite different from the meaning of the English word, which is defined as entirely without fault or defect.

"For the Jew of Matthew's time it could not mean absolutely flawlessness.

"That would be blasphemous, since only God is perfect in that sense.

"According to some scholars, the Hebrew word translated as perfect actually translates better as compassionate or merciful.

"The passage is impossible in a literal English sense, possible in the Hebrew sense.

"We interpret literally at our own peril.

"If we take that passage in a Western literal sense we cripple our lives and the lives of those around us by fretting about an unrealized and unrealizable goal..."

And then after more discussion, Father Clark concludes:

"Someone is quoted as saying to Mother Teresa: You face such overwhelming problems of poverty and disease, how do you expect to be successful? How do you keep going?

"And Mother Teresa replied: God does not expect us to be successful, only faithful..."

Yeah! Way to go, Father! :)