The Righteousness that Counts before God

Epiphany Season: Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, 16 February 2014.  

Rev. Bruce Skelton, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Highlands Ranch, Colorado
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​The text for this morning’s meditation is the Gospel reading appointed for this day, but in order to understand it better we must begin with the verse immediately preceding it where Jesus says: For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

These words of Jesus are a stern warning about being religious and yet not being saved. On the basis of them we need to be clear on exactly what kind of righteousness counts before God. In the Bible the word righteousness is another name for blamelessness or holiness and what Jesus is pointing out to his followers is that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is not the type of righteousness God was seeking.

Now, who were the Scribes and Pharisees? Well, the scribes were scholars who meticulously produced hand-written copies of the Old Testament Scriptures. They studied what they wrote very thoroughly and interpreted it for the people. They were regarded as the authorities on all historical and doctrinal matters. The highest ruling body of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, counted many scribes among its members.  They insisted on strict observance of all the laws of Moses and were, from all outward appearances, a highly moral group of religious leaders.

The Pharisees were a strict sect within the Jewish community who believed that God’s grace and the promise of heaven came only to those who could outwardly keep the laws of God.  They were held up as pillars of morality often even going above and beyond the letter of the Law in keeping fasts, giving tithes and observing various religious ceremonies. They prided themselves on their scrupulous religiosity, good reputation, and clean living, and they pinned their hopes of obtaining heaven on those things. They looked with disdain on those they considered less pious than themselves, which is why they viewed Jesus with contempt because he ate with people they considered common sinners. “This man receives sinners and eats with them!” they exclaimed derisively, as they sought to sully his reputation. 

So, what was wrong with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? It was a veneer, pure and simple. It was all on the outside. It was all a show or an act that they put on for others, which is why Jesus called them “hypocrites” (bad actors). Being fully God, he could see through their little act and their deceit calling them “White-washed tombs…full of dead men’s bones.” They were like the ornate sepulchers found on the hillsides of Palestine, beautifully decorated on the outside, but inside full of rottenness and decay.

What did the scribes and Pharisees lack? The words of Jesus in the succeeding verses give us a clue. Jesus uses five examples to show how man's own righteousness is faulty. The first is the Fifth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." The scribes and Pharisees taught that murder was sin. But Jesus reminds His disciples that God's protection of human life extends not only over physical life, but over the whole of life. Life can be threatened by another's angry thought or sneering word. So Jesus said,

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Why? Because whoever hates his fellowman is a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. God looks at the heart. Evil thoughts and words are sin already, and the soul that sins, dies. Bearing a grudge or wronging someone without making an effort to make it all right will damn a person despite all outward piety and righteousness.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

More important than the performance of religious rituals and ceremonies is being at peace with each other and having a forgiving spirit. The fact that Jesus urges us to make friends quickly with our accuser indicates that every day should be considered as the possible last day and should be filled with an urgency to reconcile. For if God's grace and love to us in Jesus have not led us to practice love and mercy and forgiveness, we may not look for mercy in the Last Judgment.

The sixth commandment is also used by Jesus for an example of what righteousness truly calls for.

You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.... It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to commit adultery, and anyone who marries a woman so divorced, commits adultery.

God is witness to the marriage covenant. In Mal. 2:14-16 we are told that God hates divorce as much as bloody violence. Both the lustful look and divorce violate the marriage covenant. While the Law in Deuteronomy (24:1-4) conceded divorce and prescribed the certificate of divorce, it was because the Law could not overcome man's hardness of heart. God's intention at creation was a lifelong and indissoluble union between man and woman.

The scribes and Pharisees felt that if they refrained from outward acts of immorality they were pure. No, said Jesus, God looks at the heart, and lust-filled eyes reveal the heart's evil intent. While the Pharisees interpreted Moses' prescription concerning divorce very liberally, and a man could divorce his wife for almost any cause, Jesus championed her cause because she was left helpless and without honor by such a procedure. But whatever the case, when the marriage vow is broken, God is offended and it is His Name is dragged through the mud.

So what does all this tell us? Well, can you and I say that our hearts are clean? Has no evil thought ever lodged in our mind? No lust-filled desire entered our heart? Does no evil word ever cross our lips? Sinful thoughts, desires, words, and deeds must be eradicated. In Biblical thought various parts of the body are the means man uses to express his will and desire and may stand for the whole man in action. So Jesus said, "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown in hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell," To pluck out the eye and cut off the hand are expressions used by Jesus to show how resolutely we must fight and repress the sinful desire, no matter how painful the effort may be.

Another illustration is used by Jesus to indicate the kind of perfection and righteousness God requires. It has to do with oaths: "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be `Yes,' and your `No,' `No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

In the case of the fifth and sixth commandments Jesus applies them to the nth degree. In this instance, however, he goes beyond the mere letter of the Law so that its intention can be fully realized. What the Law says loudly and Jesus makes abundantly clear is that when a man speaks he is speaking always in the presence of his God, not simply on one occasion or the other. Jesus removes the oath so that every "Yes" and every "No" a person speaks is spoken as in the presence of God. Anything other than that comes from the evil one, the Devil, who is the father of lies. It is his influence that makes an oath a necessity in the courtroom.

From all of what Jesus said it is obvious that man's righteousness, even if one is a scrupulous scribe or a pious Pharisee, is of no use at all to gain the favor of God or to enter the kingdom of heaven. But, thanks be to God it doesn’t stop there, because if it did there would be no hope for any of us. But, there is hope and that hope is found in Jesus Christ and Him alone, for he came into to the world not to condemn it, but to save it and us. And he did so by making his righteousness our righteousness. He came to live for us, in our place, from conception to resurrection. He came to be our stand-in. He took our place in every respect and He did it perfectly. He kept every command of God in minute detail. And having done all that, He suffered the punishment of hell on the cross for each human being. There the job was finished for all time and for eternity.

So, our hope is in Him and in Him alone. The apostle Paul, writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, proclaims, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21). Although all our righteousness is like “filthy rags” (Is. 64:6), Jesus' righteousness, and therefore the very holiness of God, becomes our righteousness and holiness through faith in Him.

Paul wrote that for Jesus' sake he suffered the loss of all things in order that "I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Phil. 3:8-9). There is forgiveness from God through Christ. He makes the sinful heart clean, and His righteousness becomes our righteousness through faith. And that is the only righteousness that counts before God.

"For I tell you," says Jesus, "that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Well, it does! It does because of this Christ who takes us to Himself and says, "Your sins are forgiven." With that glorious Gospel let us go forth from this place of worship this morning, striding shoulder to shoulder with Him, knowing that everything we do now by the power of the Holy Spirit will be done in faith in Him who loves us and who gave Himself for us. To Him be the glory, now and forever, 

Amen.