But I say unto you who have eyes to see and ears to hear: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you; that you may be revealed as the children of your Father which is in Heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and upon the good, and sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.
Pursuit of Perfection
A Gnostic Teaching from Pastor Mark, Forgiven Temple Ministries
To follow Yehoshua is not to merely imitate from the outside. It is to awaken and completely engage the inner man to reflect the great goodness of HaShem that already dwells within you.
We are called to be as Yehoshua Himself is.
He who saw beyond the veil of flesh and loved all of the Father’s children even unto His death, and in the glory of His resurrection. He did not love the persona, the mask, the offense. He loved the divine spark trapped within. We are called to do as He has done and to live in the light of His Gnosis.
In our gospel reading this week, Yehoshua does not invite His followers to be merely nicer than others. He invites us to be more conscious than others. He calls us to strive towards Teleios, wholeness, completion, perfection, knowing full well the human condition, the Adam bound in matter, is beyond the perfection of Yehoshua in the flesh. Though strive we must, for striving is remembering.
You say, “But Pastor, this is impossible.” Yes, it is. It is indeed beyond the human standard. It is impossible for the ego.
However, Yehoshua would never command His listeners to do something that was too lofty to be attained. Within the power of Ruach Ha’Chodesh, the Holy Breath, the very Breath of the Father Himself dwelling within the inner temple, Yehoshua has always known that the righteous in heart and spirit could be lifted to this lofty calling.
The call to love our enemies and to pray for our persecutors is not a one-time law. It is a continuous path of awakening. At first, it does not seem possible. The heart of stone resists. But with constant devotion to righteousness and to prayer in the secret place, that heart of stone shall dissolve. It shall be melted and remolded to be modest and humble, as is the heart of our Redeemer. The enemy becomes our teacher, showing us where we still hold judgment.
And why must we seek this perfection?
So that we may seek to be as Elohim Kedem, the Eternal G-d.
He who does not discriminate in whom to bless. The rain falls. The sun rises. The emanation of HaShem is indiscriminate because the Light does not see division.
Yehoshua seeks for us to obtain and hold that same mind, that we do not discriminate whom to love and whom to greet. If we love only those who love us, if we only salute those of our own sect, our own understanding, then we are still asleep. We are no different than those who do not believe in Yehoshua, whose faith fails them at every turn because it is built on transaction and tribe. We remain different only as we have borne the radical love of Ha’Moshiach, the Anointed One.
It is radical in this sense: it is a love that is freely given and seeks no reciprocation. It seeks no reward in this world, except for the promise of eternal life, which is not a future reward, but the present knowing that we are already eternal.
We come to learn in the Book of Vayikra / Leviticus 19:2, Elohim commands, “Be holy, for I the L-rd your G-d am holy.” This is the fuel which fires the heart of love of our dear Redeemer, through which He exhorts His disciples to “Be Perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Mattiyahu/Matthew 5:48, and “Be Merciful just as your Father is merciful,” Lukos / Luke 6:36.
Thusly, we are called to be perfect in the means of being holy, and perfect in the means of being merciful, all within the love of our Redeemer. Holiness is not separation from people. In the Gnosis, holiness is remembering your union with all people through HaShem.
Let us take notice: Mattiyahu/Matthew 5:48 says “Be perfect.” This scripture could have easily been the finale of the Sermon upon the Mount of Olives. It is the summit. Many may exclaim, “This is too difficult!”
Yet we must always strive in our faith, knowing this mystery: our imperfection, on its own, is not enough to keep us from the grasp of grace. Grace is not given to the perfect. Grace is what perfects us.
In perfection of love we are called to a higher existence, beyond the archons of this world, beyond reaction and offense. In His love and in His Redemption, we take comfort, not that we are already flawless, but that we are being made whole.
We take comfort in our imperfect perfection.
Amen and Again, Amen,
Pastor Mark
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