“… Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Mt. 5:20
In order to understand today’s Gospel text, we need to reflect a little on the background to Jesus’ message.
The Pharisees were exacting and scrupulous in their attempts to follow their laws. So the question is, ‘How could Jesus call the people to a greater righteousness than theirs?’ The weakness of the Pharisees was that they were content to obey the laws outwardly without allowing God to change their hearts. Jesus was therefore saying that the quality of our goodness should be greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees. They looked pious, but they were far from the Kingdom of God. Elsewhere, Jesus said, “The people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” God judges our hearts as well as our deeds, for it is in the heart that our real allegiance lies.
Jesus is saying that his listeners needed a different kind of righteousness from that of the Pharisees. Our righteousness must come from what God does in us, not what we can do by ourselves. We must go beyond keeping the law to living by the principles behind the law. Moses said “You shall not murder,” but Jesus said that we should not even become angry enough to murder. If we have a problem or grievance with a friend, we should resolve the problem as soon as possible. We are hypocrites if we claim to love God while we hate others.
Prayer
Lord, help me to live by your Truth, so that I may be truly free