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.
To enter the kingdom of heaven you must do better than the greatest of the law keepers. Isn't that a contradiction? How can you do better than the Pharisees, scribes, and teachers of the law? They spend their whole lives trying to prove what good law keepers they are? When a tailor won't even carry a needle on the Sabbath, how good can you be?
The problem isn't the law, it's the heart!
There was one left on the road beaten and hurt. One religious teacher was concerned if he touched that person he might be sued for money. He wasn't breaking any law by passing on the other side, but he might be breaking the law if the man was dead for if he touched him; he might become ceremonially unclean. The Samaritan wasn't concerned about the religious rule games, he was concerned about a needy life. When the Samaritan helped and brought healing to that man, Jesus said go and do likewise.
Did the Pharisee care about the hurt man? No, he was concerned about the law. The Pharisees were too afraid they might do something wrong and in the letter of the law mentality they broke God's law of love. Therefore, we must be more righteous than the Pharisees.
Anthony Juke said, "Satan would have us prove ourselves holy by the law which God gave to prove us sinners." Paul tried to be the most zealous of the Pharisees when he wanted to show his strong devotion to the Lord by arresting and killing people who followed Jesus. He thought they were teaching/promoting another god. He did not know he was rejecting the very one Moses was pointing to. When he met Jesus, his whole life fell apart and now was free from the letter of the law. His desire was to serve God with a heart filled with love.
We need something other than the law to point us to God. We need law to point us to our sin, but we need faith in Christ to forgive and change our hearts.
Grace is a gift that we can't be good enough to earn. We receive it by faith. Jesus warned that righteousness must exceed the scribe and Pharisees. He introduced the law of love. We need to see that loving God and others is more than dos and don’ts. It is having the right heart and then we demonstrate a greater righteousness shown by loving our enemies, not even looking upon women lustfully, not hating others, and giving away that which we think is so important to us to those who really need it more.
The law can reveal sin, but only faith can remove it. The law can restrain us, only faith can free us. The law reminds us of our weakness, only faith can give us power.
Apply this to Your life: To exceed the law is doing something the Pharisees didn't do -“to love God with all your heart and mind and soul; and love your neighbor as yourselves for in so doing you fulfill all the law and prophets.”
Prayer: Lord, Jesus, help me to love like You loved and surrender all of self to You.
