Perfect in Love

In the most recent general conference President Nelson urged us, “My call today, dear brothers and sisters, is to end conflicts that are raging in your heart, your home, and your life. Bury any and all inclinations to hurt others—whether those inclinations be a temper, a sharp tongue, or a resentment for someone who has hurt you. The Savior commanded us to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies, and to pray for those who despitefully use us.” In that scripture that he was alluding to the Savior said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” He then asked these piercing questions: “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matthew 5:43-47) Interestingly, it was directly after these questions that we have the famous injunction regarding perfection: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” The footnote suggests that this means “complete, fully finished, fully developed,” and thus it is not a commandment to never make mistakes but to become complete. Given the context, perhaps what the Savior was suggesting was that one of the ways in which we are to become complete is in our love towards one another. We should be perfect or complete in that we don’t only love those who love us; we love even our enemies and those who mistreat us. The call to become perfect is first and foremost a call to love all of God’s children no matter how they treat us.

            And so President Nelson’s invitation for us is to remove all negative feelings towards all people so that we can become complete and be “the children of [our] Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” One of the ways in which He is perfect or complete is in the love He shows universally to all of His children, and for us to become like Him we must seek to do the same. One of the keys then is that how others treat us must not affect how we treat and love them. That is not easy—often we must exercise the “humility, courage, and strength” that President Nelson spoke of in order to forgive others their trespasses towards us and treat them with unwavering kindness and love. The Savior of course was our perfect example of this. As they railed on Him and struck Him during the fake trial before the Sanhedrin He responded with perfect kindness: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?” (John 18:22-23). After Pilate spoke with Him, the Roman governor turned Him over to be scourged and the Roman soldiers “plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands” (John 19:2-3). They were cruelly mocking Him as He was in total physical agony, but when He soon thereafter hung on the cross He looked at those who were actually carrying out the horrific act—Roman soldiers perhaps the very same as those who had just viciously mocked Him—and He said this: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” The JST clarifies that He was speaking in particular of “the soldiers who crucified him.” While those soldiers were certainly less responsible than the Jews who turned Him over and insisted that He be put to death, they certainly were not innocent as they abused and mistreated Him. But with super-human magnanimity, He looked upon them in love as He hung in tortured pain and held no resentment towards them. What a way to end a life! That is the kind of perfect and complete love that we are to strive for in our lives as we seek to end all conflict and treat others as we would like to be treated no matter what they do to us. And as we struggle to obtain to that ideal, we must “plead for power through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ to help [us]” which was made efficacious because the Savior was at all times perfect in love.