Commentary on the Gospel of
Becoming Perfect as God
The book of Deuteronomy invites us to follow God’s ways, His norms, in return for being counted His people. The stress is on His norms; not ours. That is the only way we can become perfect as He is perfect. But what are His norms? Jesus breaks it down in plain terms: Loving the enemy, praying for the oppressors, sharing “sun and rain” (read: ‘resources’) with everyone without minding their merits or demerits. Mystics speak of an “enlarging of heart” as we grow in union with God. This stretching of heart is precisely for the purpose of taking in God; but God hardly comes alone; He always comes as a community, with a bunch of people. Perhaps we are afraid if our hearts will break, accommodating so many. We can tweak a bit and adapt the prayer Nikos Kazantzakis attributes to those who have God’s kind of heart: “Overstretch me, Lord. Who cares if I break?”
