Memra 2: About Those Who Want to Become Perfect

Memra 2: About Those Who Want to Become Perfect Now then, distinguish the great commandments by which the perfect life is completed, and separate them from the vegetable and the milk. Those which our Lord and his apostles gave to the perfect, they did not write them down from them and for them. It is not that our Lord and his apostles were imperfect when they wrote them down from them and for them; but because there are no distinctions today, except to hinder individuals, it became necessary that they be written so that even youths and everyone might see, and each one might strive to enter through the narrow gate of perfection, and from beneath it inherit the place of righteousness. And whoever does not press himself, even if he is beneath perfection, inherits: on the side of the sick, he is well established in goodness, or in the milk of children he hears well, or in those commandments which are said to everyone, that he may be blessed—that one is righteous. And if he falls from righteousness, his good deeds exceed his evil ones, and he is delivered from Gehenna, and he lives without being entangled, descending into affliction, or if he descends into affliction, his affliction becomes light and brief. But to those who want to become perfect, our Lord speaks thus: When someone strikes you on your cheek, bring the other near him and pray over him, and you will be perfect. And when someone reviles you with a word, go with him a second time. And when someone takes your cloak by force, let him take it, and also take your tunic.

Love the one who curses you, and bless the one who reviles you, and pray for the one who persecutes you, and pursue the one who flees from you. And you were saying to one another: "Our Father who is in heaven, forgive us as we have forgiven." For it is said: "When you present your confession to God, forgive your brother and be reconciled to him, and then present your offering." And do not judge so that you may not be judged, and do not condemn so that you may not be condemned. And why have I set a head and a judge over you? And if I am a father, my judgment is true. I did not come to judge the world, but rather to teach you in humility and to give you life, and to be a companion to my disciples, that they might do as I do. For those who wish to become perfect, thus a father teaches: A good tree produces good fruit. Why do you overcome evil with all the good that is in every person? And I have no need to support a head on the earth. And be like me and stand firm in my love, just as I, for my part, keep the commandments of my father and stand firm in his love. And by this, let everyone know that you are my disciples, that you love one another. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. And be blessers and not cursers. And do not call one another fool or empty-headed or stupid or blind; otherwise, you will not attain perfection.

Whoever does not curse you, or is not angry, or is found to be in need and does not uproot it, does not reach perfection. Whoever does not leave everything and take up his cross and come after me, that one is not worthy of me. That one does not inherit the kingdom of heaven with those who take up the cross. Whoever looks at you to his back is not necessary to me. That one, whoever relaxes these great, humble, and abandoned commandments and descends to the small ones. Whoever errs in himself, that one loves me. That one, whoever does not love his life in this passing world. Everything that finds you in yourself and your deeds. That one, his portion and his strength are from the world. Whoever does not leave seventy times seven is not worthy of me. That one, whoever pursues follies, is not even a little perfected. Whoever does not bind the feet of his enemies, when he knows that they are about to deliver him to death, as was done to Iscariot, is not worthy of me. That one is not perfected and is not to me a brother, a mother, a father, or sisters. Whoever does not go to the one who is distressed over him, as I went to John who was distressed over me, is not a disciple to me. That one is not a teacher. Everything that humbles you will be raised, and everything that is raised will be humbled. That one is known before God. Everything that asks you, give to it. That one, whatever you have. If you have cried out earthly things, give from them.

of the heavenly ones: give to the one who asks of you. A bodily end is that which stops bodily things, and a spiritual end is that which stops the word from the one who suffices for it. Be for me as those who pray and do not weary you, so that you do not enter into fasts and vigils. So that I may not boast in the superiority of revelations, that a pure one was delivered to me, the angel of Satan, who would strike me so that I would not say, "I have increased much" or "I have attained." So that you may not be anxious about what you will eat and what you will drink; that is, so that you do not labor for the sake of your belly. Those who observe these commandments and are born from the beginning: they resemble the spirit, for the place of desire is empty; that is, in heaven with the Lord, and there is no commander to lead them, because they have conquered the external battle, since they have no adversary and no battle with the enemies, and they have taken the internal fear, since it is with sin alone that they contend, and not with their brothers, the sons of Adam; nor even if they kill them, because their desire and their freedom have saved them from one who would subdue them to servitude; and they look upon the Lord in spirit in this world as in a vision, and when they have passed from their bodies, they see him face to face, as from glory to glory. Because they have closed their eyes and shut their ears from evils, they see the king in his beauty in the distant lands.

Think of yourself as every person who is better than you, and be everything with everyone. Everything that does not think of me, that follows in my footsteps and enters the house of the humble and the pure and teaches them as I have shown you, is not completed. Let your humility be known to all of you among the sons of men, and give peace with a holy and pure kiss to everyone. And blessed are those who are pure in heart and the makers of peace with everyone. This one, however, is not only the one who reconciles with his enemies, but also reconciles other enemies who are far from them. And thus the trees of the upper paradise, which is above the heavens, from which Adam was commanded to eat and enjoy, but he listened to the evil one and cast him out, and the gates of paradise were closed in his face until Jesus willed and opened them, and again the barrier of enmity was broken and the creation was reconciled, and he rejoiced in the blood of the crucified one, both on earth and in heaven. The great trees of the spiritual paradise, from which those who keep the great commandments eat, are these: faith, humility, meekness, love, hope, truth, and holiness, which in the Lord with the Lord eat and enjoy. And the end of these words is this: that no one should say that he has cast down or grown old, as was said to Simon.

These commandments were given to whoever wants to become perfect, and those that resemble them in the whole of the New Testament. And whoever wants to become perfect: by these commandments he will be equipped, and he will leave aside those other commandments of greens and milk, which are like an infant who leaves his mother’s milk as soon as he is weaned a little. For these are the ones that teach your brother in simplicity, and their thought is like a sin, which is contrary to that which does not know you, and leave him as much as he errs in you. Because these commandments, the small ones and those that resemble them, which are given like milk to infants and like greens to the sick, make a person who will not become a man and will never be perfected. For this reason I have taken care to distinguish them, because there are people who want to be perfected, and the evil one turns them around and presents them with the small commandments and does not allow them to be perfected, because he makes them think that if they transgress the small commandments they sin. And they do not know that if they transgress in love, they also transgress those great commandments very much. For if a person wants, he will not only transgress these small commandments in love, but also these great ones. For the Lord said: When he strikes you on the cheek, present the other one to him. He will again strike his cheek, and behold, he transgresses against him who strikes him, only by giving.

And he does not seek any foolishness at all: and behold, he has increased more than the one who forgives seventy times seven. And he went more than a mile: and behold, he has humbled himself more than what Jesus commanded. For he said to him: when he leads you a short mile, go two more with him. Thus he does also for these small commandments: and he comes to these great ones, and he learns their ways for the sake of the proud through humility: and behold, he has increased more than the one who does not eat bread with them and does not mingle with them and their kind, and he taught his brother not to sin: and behold, he has increased more than those who judge and rebuke him, and thus he increases from the small commandments and stands in the great ones and is perfected. And the one who stands in the great commandments, which are humbling, increases humility more than what the great commandments command: and behold, he is praised with the Lord and increases more than the one who stands in them. For it is possible that a man increases from man by the Spirit Paraclete: because he increases humility in himself more than what was commanded. Also the Lord said: I am the one who did not sin against me and did not offend me: and your Lord is the one who humbled himself thus: how much more is it necessary for you: that you, who are servants and sinners, should humble yourselves. For I humbled myself before the doers of evil deeds: how much more is it necessary for you to humble yourselves before the evil ones. The end of the second memra.