"Wait a minute!" we say, scratching our heads. "God is all powerful, all knowing, and all good. I'm a weak, limited human being who struggles minute by minute to figure out the right thing to do or say. How can I ever be perfect like God?"
But then Jesus explains himself by describing how God's goodness is a goodness that we can imitate. He says "He (God) makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust."
God's perfection is God's all-encompassing compassion. God is compassionate to us and pours out His gifts on all His children whether we deserve His gifts of grace or not. We turn away from Him; He never turns away from us. What Jesus is saying, then, is that for us to be perfect as the Father is perfect is for us to pour out our forgiveness, compassion, understanding, honesty, kindness, and love on both the bad and the good, the just and the unjust, on those who seem to deserve or be "worthy" of our attention, and those who do not. This requires a great inner freedom of soul - freedom from selfishness, grudges, self-absorption, and being judgmental.
When we consciously imitate the way Jesus lived, and imitate his inner attitude of following his Father's example, we, like Jesus, help to overcome death-dealing sin in this world. When we love and forgive those who seem to deserve it the least, we soften their hearts to receive the Father's love. When we are welcoming to everyone, we are acknowledging that everyone is as important and lovable in God's sight as we and those who are "like us" or part of our "inner circle," are.
Fr. Michael R. Simone, in his Scriptural reflection for "America" magazine, "The Freedom of the Father's Children," gives practical examples of this mature attitude:
"We conquer death and its effects in the world whenever we ourselves are kind to those who do not deserve it, forgive those who have wronged us, treat others as ends and not means, or act honestly and generously for the good even of strangers and enemies."
Fr. Ronald Rolheiser would describe the perfection of compassion as having a mellow and forgiving heart. No matter how faithful to God we are, or how great our "cause" or our "noble beliefs," if we approach others with bitterness and anger because we think that we are right and "good" and they are wrong and "bad," we are doing the right thing for the wrong reason. We are being self-righteous and judgmental. Rolheiser explains
"We see this, in its worst example, in suicide bombers, who are religiously convinced that their cause is so important that they can be martyrs, for God, by destroying dozens or perhaps even thousands of innocent lives. When the case is this extreme, we see more easily what misguided religious fervor looks like and how important religiously it is to have a mellow and forgiving heart. But we are not as perceptive in seeing the rationalizing suicide bomber inside ourselves when, for the sake of God and truth, our own religious and political discourse is laced with bitterness, anger, jealousy, demonization, lack of respect, lack of graciousness, and lack of elementary Christian and human charity. We also tend not to recognize it in the embittered moralizing that sometimes emanates from our ecclesial communities. A mellow and gracious heart is not a negotiable Christian virtue. It is an essential demand of Christian discipleship." (from "Sacred Fire.")
Can we, like our Heavenly Father, make the sun of our smiles rise on those who do not seem to deserve our kindness? Can we, like our Heavenly Father, cause the rain of our mercy to fall on the just and the unjust in our lives? Can we allow God to read the hearts of all instead of attempting to do that ourselves and judging others?
One good place to start is with the angry, bitter, insulting, and disrespectful political discourse that is happening in our country today. As politicians seem to divide rather than unite us, and hatred and lies are spewed out for the media to report on, and Facebook is full of angry, bitter, disrespectful memes, can we choose to have the inner and outer attitude of Jesus? If we discuss politics, in person or on-line, can we speak the truth as we see it with a mellow, forgiving heart that refuses to insult or demean others? Can we, as Fr. Simone suggests, "act honestly and generously for the good even of strangers and enemies"?
As Mother Teresa says, "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." Kindness echoes for infinite distances, affecting an infinite number of hearts and souls.
Perhaps the greatest gift we can give America today is to speak the truth with courageous and respectful love. To pray with mellow and forgiving hearts for all our politicians. To allow our compassionate, kind words to rain on the good and the bad, the just and the unjust, our friends and our enemies. To live with the selflessness, honesty, kindness, and respect of Jesus is what will truly make our country great again.