Matthew 5:20-26
I thank the Lord that I am able to post another message this week. I posted the first section of my book about Toby on this blog on Wednesday. I hope that many of you had a chance to read it. Next Wednesday, I will post another section.
There was an interesting story on Yahoo News this week about a dog that went every day to Mass with his owner. The dog's owner died a couple of months ago. When the church bell rings for Mass, the dog goes into the church for Mass just as he did when his owner was alive. The priest lets the dog stay throughout the service. The priest said that he had just lost his own dog. I'm hoping that the priest will adopt the dog and give him a good home.
In last week's message, I wrote about the way that Jesus was the fulfillment of both the law and the prophets. Jesus fulfilled all that the sacrificial system symbolized when He died on the cross bearing our sins in His body. He fulfilled the law because He was the only person who never sinned. Jesus fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah.
I wasn't able to quite finish our section of Scripture last week, so I want to pick up where we left off with verse 20 where Jesus says, "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven."
I think that this verse has two applications. First of all, Jesus said many times that the Pharisees were hypocrites. Jesus said that they were like whitened tombs. They looked good on the outside, but on the inside they were full of dead men's bones. Those who are followers of Jesus should not be hypocrites. We should be true followers of the commandments and teachings of our Lord. Our outward actions and our inward motivations should be focused on loving Jesus and showing it in all that we do and say.
The second application of this verse lies in the fact that there is no way that we can ever earn our way to Heaven. All of humanity has sinned and violated the law of God. The Bible says that there is no one who is righteous. So how can we be righteous enough to go to Heaven? It is through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. When we come to Jesus accepting Him as Savior and Lord, He forgives us and we receive His righteousness. Now that we are in Christ, the Father does not see our sin. The Father sees us clothed in the righteousness of His Son.
At this point, we move into a section of the Sermon on the Mount that continues through chapter five. In this section, Jesus is truly establishing the law of His kingdom.
Before we get into the specifics that Jesus presents in verses 21 through 48, let's look at some of the ways that this section is interpreted.
For one thing, Jesus is presenting His divinity by the fact that He is showing Himself to be greater than Moses. Moses did not create the law, he was given the law by God. In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is in some ways changing the Old Testament law. Now if Jesus was not God and was changing the law of God, He would have been guilty of blasphemy. By reinterpreting, and in some instances changing the law, Jesus did something that only God could do. Jesus was clearly establishing His divine authority.
The second consideration is what was Jesus trying to do in this section. For instance, we will see that Jesus doesn't just say that murder is wrong, He says that one who is angry with his brother is guilty as well. Is Jesus saying that a thought is equivalent to an action?
Some believe that what Jesus is doing here is building a hedge around the law. In other words, Jesus is saying that if you don't want to violate the commandments such as do not murder and do not commit adultery, then don't even harbor the thought in your mind. If you don't harbor anger, then you won't commit murder. If you don't harbor lust, then you won't commit adultery.
I believe that this idea has some merit. However, as we will see, I believe that Jesus is saying more than this. I think that Jesus is setting down a standard of behavior for His followers that will lead them to a greater degree of holiness. Jesus is giving us a code of behavior that will make not only our actions pure, but our thoughts will be pure as well.
One other interpretation of this section that was often taught in the church of my youth is that this section is an impossible standard that no one can follow. They believed that Jesus presents the impossible standard to demonstrate that people are completely without hope if they try to save themselves by keeping the law because even their thoughts condemn them.
I don't believe that this in Jesus intention here at all. If Jesus didn't expect His followers to obey His commandments, He wouldn't have given them. Jesus knows that we aren't perfect, but He expects us to do our best as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Next week, we will get into Jesus statement about murder and anger as found in verses 21 through 26. May God bless you all. Amen.
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