A Year-Long Exploration of the Sermon on the Mount: Week 15

Chapter 15 – The Greater Righteousness

 

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. (Matt 5:20)

 

Jesus didn’t come to erase the law; he came to enhance it. Societal laws exist for good reason. It makes sense to not steal, to not murder, to honours your elders, etc. Jesus doesn’t deny this, he wouldn’t deny this. As a Jewish man, he would have been well-versed in Jewish law.

 

What Jesus teaches is for us to move beyond the surface level laws, and to look at our motivation for not breaking the commandments set by God. Yes, you shouldn’t steal, but are you no stealing in order to stay out of trouble, or are you not stealing because it would harm your neighbour? Same with resisting killing another person – is the fear of jail stopping you, or is it love?

 

The teaching of Christ is this: “Love God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and they neighbour as thyself.” (91) If you follow this teaching, then following external laws should be easy and assumed. If you follow this teaching, then your motivation for how you live your life is based on love, not self-protection.

 

I think churches as a whole need to remind themselves of the teachings of Jesus. There is a lot of self-preservation going on – trying to protect buildings, traditions, reputation, image, and the list could go on. With attendance dwindling, churches are looking inward instead of outward, forgetting that they are there for the community, not just for themselves.

 

Now more than ever, Jesus’ call to love God and love the neighbour needs to be our priority. Our righteousness will shine through by protecting our neighbour, lifting up the oppressed, and fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves.

 

This is what Jesus has taught us to do.