Does your righteousness
exceed that of
the scribes and Pharisees?
What does this mean?
Are we talking about
righteousness
in what we think,
or say,
or do?
Of is it something we are?
We think of Abraham
being a righteous man
whose faith in God
was accounted to him
as righteousness.
There are two understandings
of righteousness in the Bible.
One is a broad sense
which is related to perfection.
A righteous man is one
whom he is meant to be.
And already we see God
present in this understanding
of righteousness
because God is responsible
for giving us meaning
and showing us
who we are meant to be.
The other sense
is a narrow, legal sense
of passing the right judgement
on others.
And now we begin to see
how we must exceed
the righteousness
of the Scribes
and Pharisees.
[PAUSE]
The Scribes and Pharisees
adhere to the narrow form
of righteousness.
Things are righteous
because the Pharisees
say that they are righteous
according to the Law of Moses.
In many ways,
they are trying to ensure
that God's law is kept
in due order
so that God may be worshipped.
That's actually a fine thing.
The Pharisee regards
God's Law with respect
and seeks to apply it
as in compliance with God.
So what's gone wrong?
[PAUSE]
Our Lord Jesus
shows us
that this view of righteousness
is too narrow
and needs to be broadened.
It is against God's Law
to commit murder.
But Jesus broadens out
what the Law says.
It is not what God wants
for us to harbour anger
against our brother
in our hearts.
To be angry with your brother
without a good reason
(if there is such a reason)
is to damage
our righteousness
which puts us back into
narrow sense of righteousness
and puts us in danger of
judgement, council and hellfire.
To be angry with your brother
means that there is something wrong
which needs to be put right
before you can proceed.
[PAUSE]
Righteousness is related to being perfect
and this means that
the Law is not enough
to call us righteous.
We need to be made righteous.
This means cultivating
righteousness
in our lives
as something to grow.
God imparts righteousness
at our baptism
and when we confess our sins
and when we receive the Eucharist.
And then we must grow it
so that it exceeds
the narrow view of righteousness
that the Scribes and Pharisees
possess
Just as our justification
is not a one-off event
but something that we must
work at in faith
so our righteousness is
something that we must work at
and cultivate
in order to enter the kingdom of God.
We need the right sort of righteousness,
nice and broad
that grows beyond the confines
of the law court
and into our hearts and minds.
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