Be Perfect?

Gospel MT 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Jesus is right.  It's easy to love those who love us.  Much harder to love our "enemies."  But that's what we are called to do.  Jesus wants us to let go of our own vengeful agenda and let God in his merciful wisdom make right those who have wronged us.  It is God who makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.  There is an implicit message of letting go of the need to control others isn't there?  When we feel like we've been wronged, we someone to behave as we want them to.  And we are often disappointed when they don't.  In a curious choice of words, Jesus calls us to be perfect.  This compelled me to do some research on this verse and the message becomes more clear when we look at the original text in Greek.  The Greek word for perfect is "teleios" which means full and complete.  Jesus is calling me not to a life obsessed with getting things right but to a life of holiness - a state of moral and spiritual perfection.  God who is all-holy has created me so that I can share - through His gift of grace - in His perfect, holy, and divine life.