Imperfect Perfection

I believe there is an important difference between the kind of perfection that we often imagine, and the perfection that Jesus Christ actually exemplified. We might believe that perfection means never doing something that others might get the wrong impression and start to gossip about. Christ showed us that loving those who are truly penitent is more important than worrying about others seeing us publicans and sinners. We might think that perfection is being able to do everything right now. Christ showed us that even though at twelve years old He had the power to change the world, He waited another eighteen years before He began His ministry. We might think that perfection is never showing that we are angry. Christ showed us that the appropriate response to wicked men making of the house of the Lord a den of thieves is righteous fury. We might think that perfection is never needing to admit that this is too hard. Christ showed us that although He had all power and all wisdom, even He found the cup almost too bitter to drink and asked the Lord not once, but three times to remove this trial from Him. The perfection that we so often construct for ourselves, and just as often berate and belittle ourselves for not measuring up to, has little to do with the perfection that Christ beckons us to adopt. Being perfect means being whole, complete, in perfect harmony. The problem with the perfection that we imagine is that it ends up being exaggerated and inharmonious. We may say to ourselves, I’d never get caught dead helping a Samaritan because I want to avoid even the appearance of evil. We may also say that we will always help those in need no matter what. Well, sometimes the one in need is the Samaritan and it is better to not pass by the other side to avoid the appearance of evil, but to go and help the person who has been beaten and robbed and left for dead. You can find all kinds of contradictions and inconsistencies in Christ’s actions and teachings if you fashion some kind of rigid and inflexible code of conduct. Perfection is not a shield against evil or a fortress against frailty. Perfection is about doing the right thing at the right time. It’s about having the flexibility to do the most important thing instead of what we perceive to be the most correct thing. Perfection is openness and vulnerability and warmth and tenderness. Perfection is loving God and loving our neighbor and loving ourselves more than we love the praise of the world, more than we give heed to the scorn heaped upon us, more than our flawed notion of what perfection should be. As imperfect beings, it only makes sense that the perfection we imagine is also imperfect. We’re far better off following the example of a perfect being, even if our attempts to follow are halting and meandering and imperfect. Christ does not want us to be the kind of perfect that we imagine we ought to be, He wants us to be perfect, even as He is.