For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Matt. 5
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48). I recently learned that the Greek word translated as “perfect” in this verse means complete, whole, or fully developed. So Jesus isn’t talking about the “get it right every time” kind of perfect, here. What I believe He is saying is that we need to live God’s law completely and not just on the surface as the Pharisees and teachers of the law did. He gave us several examples to understand the concept.
If we love people who love us, that is good, but it is an incomplete, or imperfect love. Our love is complete when, like God’s love, it is not based on the behavior of others. If we give what’s required and take only what’s owed, our generosity and grace are not fully developed. Fulfilling our vows and obeying marriage laws does not make us wholly honorable, faithful, or pure.
Thus, to be perfect as God is perfect means that we need to apply His law not just to our actions, but deeper – to our thoughts and attitudes. Our actions are just the symptom of our deeper flaw. The problem, and God’s concern, is our heart. I don’t just mean our emotions. I mean our thoughts, our perceptions…the essence of who we are; I mean our very nature. This is what Jesus came to change so that God’s perfect law might be made perfect and complete in us.
Is. 43-44
What does God promise Israel? Which promise stands out to you and why? How does Isaiah portray the irony of idolatry? What are you tempted to put before God? Three times in these two chapters God declares to Israel, “You are my witnesses, that I am God.” (Is. 43:12b). This was one of the very special purposes of the Jews. Because of their story we know who God is; we know that He alone is God. No other object, entity, or being has been able to prove themselves as God has. Not only did God prove Himself God through them, but He also established a recognizable pattern to prove His Son as well.
What the Israelites were for God, the early disciples were for Jesus. They were His witnesses. It is because of them that we know Jesus is God. And because we recognize the pattern – God’s pattern – we know that what God was to the Israelite’s, Jesus is to us. “I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.” (Is. 43:11).