Perfection or Mercy? Yes. (Or as Mary heard it: Harmony.)

When Jesus says “Be perfect” in one Gospel and “Be merciful” in another, but whispers “Be in harmony” when no one's looking.

When the desert monk realized perfection and mercy were just rival scrolls waiting to harmonize, he lit incense—and smiled.

People love to cherry-pick the red letters of Jesus like they’re at a theological salad bar—“I’ll take some forgiveness, skip the wrath, and ooh, give me that sweet line about lilies.” But when we line up Matthew and Luke side by side, something strange happens. In one breath, we hear “Be perfect.” In the next, “Be merciful.” Did Yeshua change his mind? Misquote himself? Or was he pulling a fast one on the literalists before they even got started?

Let’s dig in, and don’t worry—we brought our koan shovel.

Matthew 5:43–48 tells us:

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Luke 6:27–36 says:

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

And in the Gospel of Mary, tucked in the sand and scandal of long-suppressed wisdom, Yeshua doesn’t say either. He says:

“Be in harmony.”

So which one is it? Perfection? Mercy? Harmony?

The Zen bell rings. A monk with bedhead and a half-drunk espresso whacks your shoulder—not to punish, but to wake you up. Because you already know: he said all of them. Or none. Or something that dissolves the question entirely.

Perfection without mercy is a tyrant in white robes—cold, clinical, and incapable of embracing a crying child.

Mercy without perfection is a drunk uncle handing out sloppy grace with no boundaries, no transformation, no inner resurrection.

But harmony—ah! Harmony is what you get when mercy and wholeness hold hands in public. It’s not about flawlessness. The Greek word in Matthew, teleios, means wholeness, completion, maturity. To be whole as God is whole—shining mercy even on the ungrateful and the wicked (Luke 6:35). Which is to say: perfection is mercy, and their dance is harmony.

Yeshua wasn’t handing out dueling slogans for gospel merch. He was whispering a koan for the soul.

So what did he say?

Maybe something like this:

"Be whole in your love, like the One who makes the sun rise on saints and psychos alike.

Be merciful and grow up, because loving your enemies is what adults do in the Kingdom of Heaven.

And above all—don’t pick sides. Harmonize."

And if you don’t get it, don’t worry. Just sit under a tree, breathe in, and try not to punch the next Roman who walks by. That’s a good start.

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