A Righteousness That Surpasses

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:13-20, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
Scholars agree that Matthew’s Gospel was written for members of a predominantly Jewish community, newly converted as Christ-followers. Matthew often quotes the Old Testament and portrays Jesus as the new law-giver. "Righteousness" is a recurrent theme. Chapter 1 refers to Joseph as a “righteous man” though he follows not a traditional understanding of righteousness but a series of dreams given to him by the Holy Spirit. In today’s story, Matthew challenges us to probe into what it means to be right with God and right with humanity. 

Read in this context, Matthew 5:17-20 seems surprising. Jesus makes it clear that the righteousness of his followers must differ from that of the scribes and Pharisees. This week, we’ve outlined the way God calls us to a new kind of righteousness—a righteousness that seeks justice and includes the poor (Isaiah 58); a righteousness modeled after Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2); a righteousness that delights in God even in the midst of evil and disturbing times (Psalm 112). Perhaps Matthew does not want this new community to stray too far from the Torah law that has grounded them for centuries. The New Testament and the church’s history record stories of communities who strayed too far in pursuit of the Spirit. 

While Matthew’s Gospel seems tough, it provides a balance that has guided the Christian community for centuries. Matthew displays such balance by using the word "unless." In this passage, it sounds an ominous warning: “Unless your righteousness surpasses..., you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The next time the word occurs is in Matthew 18:3—“Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Perhaps when we take both verses to heart, we’ll come closer to knowing how Jesus wants us to live. 

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As we'll see over the next couple of weeks, throughout the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is, on the one hand, challenging—even chiding—the notion that righteousness can be reduced to rule-keeping. In the words of the Apostle Paul: “No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Romans 3:20). Jesus is, on the other hand, claiming to be the personified fulfillment of everything the Law and the Prophets anticipated in terms of the Kingdom of God, eternal life, and righteousness.

The basic mistake we have made across time has been to read this sermon as good Pharisees and to debate it as pedantic scribes. Jesus intended for his apprentices in kingdom living to discern a righteousness that “surpasses” (NIV) or “exceeds” (NRSV) that of the theologians, biblical scholars and seminary professors of his day. Yet we have been taught to read these three chapters from the Gospel of Matthew as the tightening up of laws already beyond anyone’s ability to follow without failure. Jesus is said to have "raised the bar" in his teachings, as if he is expecting us to go beyond the righteousness of the religious leaders of his day. As Dallas Willard says: "Jesus is presented as more relentless and meaner than Moses." Misunderstanding what he says, we have made the morally impossible into spiritual hopelessness. 

Dallas Willard is so insightful when he writes:

"We need to put the idea of laws entirely out of our minds. Jesus is working … at the much deeper level of the source of actions, good and bad. He is taking us deeper into the kind of beings we are, the kind of love God has for us, and the kind of love that, as we share it, brings us into harmony with his life. No one can be 'right' in the kingdom sense who is not transformed at this level. And then, of course, the issue of not being wrongly angry, not expressing contempt, not calling people [fools], and so on is automatically taken care of."

The purpose of every divine law—whether written on stone tablets or into the intuitive consciousness of every human being—has been to liberate people. God’s holy purpose is not to enslave his creatures with rules but to free us from the things that would keep us from loving one another. The way the Pharisees and scribes were using the Law of Moses was having the opposite effect of making people brittle, harsh, and judgmental with one another. They had turned law into an end in itself—more concerned for actions than attitudes, reputation than character, externals than internals. Jesus is calling us back to heaven’s original intent through this sermon. He is showing us the path to whole-heart, whole-life discipleship that reaches to the depths of our personalities and beings.


PRAYER:
O God , keep me from taking myself too seriously. Instead, let me delight in you as Creator, Savior, and Friend. Help me to take steps to rest in you, to trust you to change me from the inside out. Take my heart and transform it at the deepest levels, so that I might grow to reflect the goodness and righteousness of your Son. Amen.


WHO AM I?
I am Tres Sansom, and I've been re-reading Dallas Willard's study on the "Discourse on the Hill" (what he calls the Sermon on the Mount). His insights on this most important teaching our so revolutionary! As he reminds us, Jesus is the smartest man that ever lived—the most brilliant teacher of truth. As such, Jesus certainly had a plan in what he taught—his sermon had a definite "flow" and "theme" to it. These are not simply random statements pieced together. Also, Jesus undoubtedly knew that true and lasting life-change occurs at the heart level. Here's a quick snippet from The Divine Conspiracy:

"The aim of the sermon—forcefully indicated by its concluding verses—is to help people come to hopeful and realistic terms with their lives here on earth by clarifying, in concrete terms, the nature of the kingdom into which they are now invited by Jesus’ call: 'Repent, for life in the kingdom of the heavens is now one of your options.' The separate parts of the discourse are to be interpreted in the light of this single purpose. They are not to be read as one disconnected statement after another. One must discern the overall plan of life within which the separate parts of the discourse make sense. 

"So far from being additional laws to crush us or show us we can’t make it on our own (of course we can’t!), the separate parts are distinct perspectives on the sweet life of love and power, of truth and grace, that those who count on Jesus can even now lead in his kingdom. 'The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus the Anointed' (John 1:17). His teachings illustrate how those alive in the kingdom can live, through the days and hours of their ordinary existence, on their way to the full world of God."