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"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
- Matthew 5:17-20
We have begun reading the Sermon on the Mount this week. In yesterday's reading, Jesus preached, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." See Salt and Light.
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." My study bible has notes for each verse of today's passage. Here, it notes: "Jesus fulfills the Law in His Person, words and actions by: (1) performing God's will in all its fullness (3:15); (2) transgressing none of the precepts of the Law (John 8:46; 14:30); (3) declaring the perfect fulfillment of the Law, which He was about to deliver to them; (4) granting righteousness -- the goals of the Law - to us (Rom 3:31; 8:3-4; 10:4). He fulfills the Prophets by carrying out fully what they had foretold about Him."
"For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." My study bible says that "assuredly is amen in Greek, meaning 'verily,' 'of a truth,' 'so be it.' Christ uses it as a solemn affirmation, a form of oath, even using it to preface certain proclamations. He takes an oath by Himself to underline the authority of His words. A jot is the smallest letter in the Greek and Hebrew alphabets; a tittle is the small stroke in certain Hebrew letters. Thus, the whole of the law is the foundation of the new teaching. It is fulfilled by Christ and will not pass away till heaven and earth pass away (Mark 13:31; Luke 16:17)."
"Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." My study bible tells us: "Righteousness which is according to the Law is a unified whole: the observance of the least of these secures the observance of the greatest, while the violation of the very least is equivalent to the violation of the greatest. . . . To teach what one does not practice condemns the teacher (Rom 2:21); to do right without guiding others lessens the reward of righteousness. Jesus Himself set the doing before the teaching. We ought to do right and teach ourselves, before we attempt to set others right."
"For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." A note says, "Righteousness is more than proper behavior, such as the scribes and Pharisees were advocating, and holy thoughts. It centers upon our relationship with God."
What can it mean to be someone who is fully justified by faith, fulfilling both the Old and the New Testaments? My study bible cites here Romans 1:16-17: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'" (St. Paul is quoting Habakkuk 2:4.) My study bible says that "the just shall live by faith" is the most often internally quoted passage in the entire Bible. And it is by faith that we must begin and end, and even begin again. The righteousness of which Christ speaks here is a kind of deepened intimacy with God brought about by the Gospel, by Jesus' mission into the world. The gift of the Holy Spirit has made possible this deepening intimacy, where we have much more than the Law to guide us and anchor us in our faith. His mission into the world left us the great example of this God Incarnate as human being. Mankind was brought closer, given something powerful, to make it possible to walk in faith in ways that only rare individuals could before Jesus' coming into the world. In Matthew's previous chapter, Jesus quoted Moses to the tempter: "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." In this statement is much more than talk about bread and physical requirements of life. I would emphasize the "every word that comes from the mouth of God" when we think about today's reading. The closeness of a potent and truly meaningful life in faith is precisely seeking that kind of intimacy that asks for help, and growth, and guidance, and asks of us the sort of obedience in response to "every word that comes from the mouth of God." This is what it means to have a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. In a note on the passage in Romans, my study bible says, "Humanity has always, in the Old and the New Testament, participated in God's righteousness on the basis of faith." In a note on Romans 3:26, my study bible says, "God's righteousness is Christ Himself. To have His righteousness is to have Christ living within us, to be in union with Him, a relationship that is dynamic and substantial. It is personal: a relationship between Shepherd and sheep, Master and friend, Father and child -- not judge and defendant." Jesus changes the deepened context of this new sort of life in faith from that of the old obedience to the Law, but calls it "exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees," and we should understand it that way. We are called to a more dynamic obedience, something living and potent, that calls for our growth and constant effort, even as it allows for forgiveness and redemption and healing.
