Righteousness Beyond the Rules

"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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks 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 practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus was a great rabbi, but a rabbi nonetheless. As with great rabbis of the time, his teaching of the law was considered an important interpretation of the laws. The God-man didn’t want any confusion to erupt about what he was teaching. His Father’s law still stands. It just isn’t the way to heaven.

How can we be made righteous? Only by the blood of Jesus Christ. So, his own death on the cross was going to allow believers to fulfill the last sentence. No Pharisee or teacher of the law before the death and resurrection of Christ would ever be able to achieve the righteousness that any believer could claim afterwards.

That simple reality renders this Scripture friendly and inviting, rather than scary and threatening. The Law was a big, hairy set of arcane rules that dictated practically every aspect of life. Just knowing it was one thing. Being able to live it was another.

The Pharisees were certainly not the favorites of Jesus. He said they were like white-washed tombs that were shiny and clean looking on the outside, but rotting on the inside. They were divided people. They lived for show, not for go. Their talk was not matched by their walk. They had not surrendered their hearts even though their heads and lips knew the right things to say. What was mostly hidden to the rest of their society was the pride and lack of servant’s hearts and attitudes they held.

The simplistic explanation of this verse fails to reach its three-dimensional value, though. Just because the blood of the Lamb satisfies this requirement for surpassing righteousness, doesn’t mean that Christ had nothing further for us to know. This wasn’t a riddle with the first right answer winning a prize.

Jesus wanted us to not dismiss the Law, and moreover, to not dismiss the Pharisees or teachers of the law. They had their place. They might be misguided in their zeal, but they had ardently studied the Law. If they had continued to study with open hearts instead of with the self-satisfaction of great knowledge they might have quickly come to the side of Jesus. He might have been able to use them. For their knowledge of the Law would certainly have proven his claims about fulfilling the prophecies. But, they were too strict, too literal, relying solely on head knowledge and not on hearts that were changed and aligned to God because of their desire to look past the jots and tittles of the books of the Law and the Prophets. The jots and the tittles would not pass away, but no heart ever was changed by Law.