“Be holy!” …well that sounds hard. “You’re a temple!” …that just sounds silly. “Be perfect!” …that sounds impossible. Yet God tells us all three of these things this weekend. It’s helpful to know a bit about what the words actually mean in the context of the Bible.
Holy – This word actually means “set apart.” Israel was specially chosen by God to be set apart, to be specially devoted to him. We too have been set apart by our baptism. Holiness is first about who we are before it is about anything we do. We are chosen sons and daughters of God.
Temple – The temple was the most important building ever built. Solomon first built it in Jerusalem to contain the Ark of the Covenant. The very presence of God on earth dwelt in this building. St. Paul is telling us that we are temples because God dwells in us. Even more surely than God dwelt in Jerusalem’s temple, the Holy Spirit dwells in you from the moment of your baptism.
Perfect – This is the most misleading of the scriptures today. The world in the original Greek is τέλειος – teleios. It comes from the word τέλος – telos, which refers to the “end” for which something was made. To be teleios is to fulfill the end for which you were made. To be perfect then, is to live in a way that is ordered to your end, to your telos. Our end is eternal life with God. But do we live this way?
If we are set apart, a temple, and living for an end that is not of this world, then our actions should reflect this. The commands of Jesus to turn the other cheek and love our enemies is crazy talk if this world is all there is. But if our telos is with God in heaven, then we don’t have to get even now, we don’t have to seek complete justice in this world. If our telos is heaven, then it should make a difference in how we live right now. We are meant to become like God. That is our telos and that is why Jesus can remind us to be ordered to this end, to be perfect, teleios.