Matthew 5:13-20 (especially 17-20)
Fulfill the Law
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 say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot,
will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes
one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will
be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches
them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless
your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven.
Unless you’re more righteous than the Pharisees, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Well. How’s that going for you?
The Pharisees, if they were known for one thing, it was
their righteousness. Held high as the
standards of holy living, the Pharisees were the models of virtue for all of
the regular, old, every-day Jews of Jesus’ time. It might be like if someone today were to
compare you to a Mother Theresa with the poor in Calcutta, or a Jimmy Carter
who builds homes for homeless people. They
were thought of as the best of the best, they were admired above all, and their
earthly riches were seen by many as a reward for their good lives.
But you and I know better, of course. We know the dark side of the Pharisees – how
they operated in the land of legalism, and made a pretense of doing good while
devouring the homes of widows. How they
made a show of their righteousness, in order to be seen by men. And perhaps worst of all – how they opposed
the very Messiah himself, and conspired to have him put to death. No, in another sense, from our view, the
Pharisee’s level of righteousness isn’t very hard to exceed at all. You’d just have to not be an absolute
scoundrel to qualify.
But Jesus isn’t trying to relax the law for us. He means that our righteousness should be
tip-top. Better than even the popular perception of the
Pharisees. Better than the zenith of
man-made righteousness. In fact he says
anyone who even just relaxes the law will be least in the kingdom. He wants his law taken seriously, and
followed. Not just in an outward
sense. Not just to be seen by men. He wants the law kept in thought, word and
deed, not just deeds.
That’s what Isaiah writes about in our Old Testament reading
– false fasting. Doing only the outward
show of good when the heart isn’t in it.
And you can tell, because they do the religious good works for show, but
they turn around and mistreat the poor.
It would be like people who are “good church going people” on the
outside, but on the inside they are just as petty and petulant as the next
sinner. They treat each other with
contempt and only look out for their own good.
And the true good works of loving their neighbor don’t match up with
their supposed “good religious character”.
God is not mocked. He sees
through it all.
But it gets even worse for us. He wants his law followed perfectly, in its
entirety, not in a horseshoes and hand grenades, close-enough-is-good-enough
sort of way. Keep the commandments! Love God perfectly. Love your neighbor as yourself. Have no other gods, don’t misuse God’s Name
or despise his word. Respect authority,
cherish life, love your family. Look out
for your neighbor’s stuff, and even his good name. And don’t even think about taking what is
his, but be content.
So again, I might ask, how’s that going for you? Does your righteousness exceed that of the
Pharisees? Are you all about keeping the
law, or do you relax it on yourself? Are
you following all the commandments all the time? Or is an iota here and a dot there just a bit
too much for you? So get out your
law-eraser!
And do you, in word or action, teach others to do the
same? How would someone looking at your
life describe your keeping of the law, if they followed you around with a camera
and recorded your words and deeds?
Do you act as if God’s holy and eternal law is something of
no consequence, something you can bend and break at will, something you can
ignore or rewrite to suit your fancy and circumstance? How do you compare to it? Or do you even bother, usually?
If we are honest with ourselves we will see and say and
confess that of ourselves, none of us is righteous enough or righteous at all. And that means that the kingdom of heaven is
out of our reach. That means that each
of us is least in the kingdom. It means
that we are just as bad off as the Pharisees we love to mock and critique. It means we are lost.
But then there is Jesus.
Jesus, who kept the law. Who
didn’t come to abolish it, but fulfill it.
And he did that in so many ways.
He fulfilled the law, first, by keeping every commandment
perfectly, all the time, in every way. That’s
hard for us to even imagine, but that is what he did. He was like us in every way yet without
sin.
That means he never had any other Gods but the one true God. He never misused or dishonored God’s name or
Word. A perfect relationship with God,
always trusting and loving and never disobeying his Father. No idols.
No false worship. Satan tried to
tempt him that way – with an offer of all the kingdoms of the world! But Jesus knew and obeyed the first
commandment, and quoted it to the enemy, “You shall worship the Lord your God
and him alone”.
And he always loved his neighbor – honoring his parents,
submissive to them and all other authorities (even those who put him to
death).
Not only did he “not murder”, but he cared perfectly for the
lives of all those around him – having great compassion on the sick and
diseased, healing them.
He was always faithful to his Bride, the church. And he remains faithful to her even now. He gives up everything for her, with his own
blood he bought her, and for her life he died.
He never took what wasn’t his (for all belongs to him
anyway), but had nowhere to lay his head, no earthly riches, no ill-gotten
gains. And he always spoke truly and
kindly, gracious words for the benefit of any who had ears to hear, never a
false witness, but words of Spirit and truth.
Jesus did all things well.
He perfectly obeyed his Father’s will in all things, even to the end. The cup wouldn’t pass from him, the cup of
wrath for all sin. Death would not
Passover him, the true Lamb of God. He
humbled himself even unto death, and even death on a cross.
And along the way, he fulfilled everything written about in
the Law and the Prophets. He was born of
a virgin, born in Bethlehem. He was a
son of David, also called a Nazarene. He
healed and cast out demons. He preached
good news to the poor. He came to his
own city humble and riding a donkey. He
bore our griefs, this man of sorrows, and became the Suffering Servant upon whom
was laid the iniquity of us all. He rose
on the third day, showing forth the sign of Jonah, and ascended to the Father
who makes all his enemies his footstool.
He even pours out his Spirit on all flesh, as the prophet Joel wrote,
and he establishes his church, and sends his word and witnesses out even to the
ends of the earth.
All of this fulfilling of the law – both the commandments
and the prophecies – all of this Jesus does, for you, dear Christian. Everything Jesus does, he does for you. His incarnation as a man – literally every
breath he takes – he didn’t have to do it, but he did it out of love for his
fallen creation, yes, even, for you. He
fulfills all, for you, his rebellious subject, his wandering sheep, his
wayward, wondering, creature. And he
turns the tables on all your law-breaking.
It is finished.
Or to put it another way, in Christ, you are more righteous
than the Pharisees. And the kingdom of
heaven is yours. For he takes away all
your law-breaking, and he gives you his perfect righteousness. He fulfills all righteousness for you, and
me, and for all.
What is left for us to do then? Nothing for salvation, that’s been done. Nothing to fix anything with God; Jesus has
done it all. All that’s left for us is
love. Love God, love neighbor. Fulfill the law as best we can, with the
power of his Spirit. Fulfill the law for
the sake of love and nothing more.
Because that’s what Christians do.
So go and sin no more.
Keep the law. For Christ has
fulfilled it for you. Love God, who
loves you. And love your neighbor, too.
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