When Christ teaches that we are to be “perfect” just as the heavenly Father is “perfect,” he is not speaking regarding nature or substance, but rather, us as Christians, being willing to participate in the work of salvation that God is doing in and through us. Meaning, we are not to ever think that we can become God. We are humans after all, and God is God. We can never become God but we can become “godly.” It is this “godliness” that we must aspire to. It is our goal to become like God. As St. Athanasius states in his work, On The Incarnation, “God became man so that man might become like God.” It is the devil’s handiwork to make us think that we cannot become like God. The saints are proof that we can become like God. That is, we can become “godly.” This is what Christ means when he says, “be perfect.”
The Believer as a Citizen
Let us look closely at the Gospel portion of the day and see how our fathers wished to guide our thoughts towards Christ. At first glance, it seems strange that two events are being told in this portion; the first has Christ telling His followers that He will die and rise in three days, the second shows a scene in Capernaum where He and Peter are asked to pay the temple tax. But, in actuality, the Bible portion is referencing merely one continuous message. Let us look at another time where Christ foretold His death and resurrection, in John 2:19 Christ states, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The temple is referring to His own Body rather than the building. Now in terms of the physical temple St. Hilary of Poitiers explains that the temple tax, which was a didrachma (a silver coin worth two drachmas), was for the redemption of soul and body, which is ultimately a type of salvation in Christ, for we are to offer up a type of didrachma, we are to offer ourselves both in soul and body.
The Waiting Period
When we hear Christ says that if we ask, knock and seek, we will receive, the door will be open and we will find him, our worries seem to go away quickly because we know that God will answer. Reality is that does not happen exactly in that way all the time. In most cases, God DOES answer but NOT quickly. There is a waiting period.
God Removes Our Blindness
In the Gospel Reading today we hear Jesus teaching that the “blind cannot lead the blind.” No explanation is necessary to explain what Christ is attempting to say because it is self explanatory. Meaning, someone who is blind cannot see, so then how can he or she leads another person who is blind, when that person cannot see either.