Righteousness

January 14, 2001

TEXT: MATTHEW 5:17-20

LISTENING TO THE TEXT
Righteousness (dikaiosuna) is a recurring theme in the Sermon on the Mount. In the four Gospels the word appears eight times, seven of them occurring in Matthew, with five of the seven uses in the Sermon on the Mount. Verses 19-20 seem to indicate that the kingdom of heaven is the manifested result of righteousness.

Jesus makes a bold statement to His disciples when He says: "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" (v. 20). The word surpasses means "to far exceed." The scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of their day. How were the disciples going to "far exceed" the righteousness of the most religious people in their tradition?

Matthew records several confrontations between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees (12:1-50; 23:1-39). It is clear throughout these interactions that both have conflicting views of the real meaning of righteousness. The scribes and Pharisees see righteousness as adhering to the Law and strict codes of purity. Jesus does not abolish the Law but insists that righteousness be raised to the level of covenant. Righteousness is about right relationships both with God and fellow human beings.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus clarifies what makes a person righteous in His parable of the sheep and the goats. Apparently the righteous are those who care about compassion and justice, and their reward is eternal life. Conversely, those who do not care about the needs of others are not righteous, and their reward is judgment. For Matthew, righteousness is always a relational principle that has something to do with God's covenant with His people (see 23:23).

This passage serves as a hinge that connects the indicative Beatitudes with the imperative commands that follow of how to live. Robert Guelich emphasizes this when he writes: "Righteousness is both a gift and a demand. Righteousness involves conduct in keeping with the will of God."

ENGAGING THE TEXT
The Need
The need in this passage is drawn from Jesus' call to a far-exceeding righteousness. How does one live a life in response to the demands of the gospel call to not abolish the law and yet to fulfill it?

God's Answer
God's answer for this inward righteousness is not explicitly located in this passage. The answer is to be found in the preceding language of the Beatitudes. We cannot be righteous unless God makes us righteous. We cannot love people by the demands of the Law, unless first there has been a transformation of our hearts. The remainder of Matthew 5 is an example of the far-exceeding righteousness to be lived in relationship with other people. Until the vertical relationship is right, the horizontal relationships can never be right.

Our Response
Our response to this passage is prayer. As we become aware of the impossibility of being righteous people on our own, we are drawn to our need of God. We cannot give attention to those outward works of justice, mercy, and compassion unless God first does a work within us of faith and cleansing. And so we pray and believe: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).

PREACHING THE TEXT
A good place to begin any sermon is where the preacher finds trouble in the passage. The trouble in this passage is how to live a righteousness that surpasses outward appearance, but that begins in the heart. Jesus intended His statement to surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees to be shocking. How does a disciple far exceed the righteousness of those who worked overtime to be spiritual?

Congregational blocks in a sermon are those things in the theology of the passage that may pose difficulty in understanding by the people. A congregational block that the preacher may encounter here is the congregation's view of scribes and Pharisees. Most people will have a negative view, and therefore to exceed their righteousness will not be much of a challenge. Take some time to discuss the validity of the scribes and Pharisees. Make clear that they were not bad people, but indeed were the best of the best in the religious world of Jesus.

Then by highlighting several of Jesus' encounters with the scribes and Pharisees, compare and contrast the different views of righteousness held by both. End the sermon by making clear that righteousness has to do with right relationships, and give practical examples of how God can empower us to live lives of justice, mercy, and compassion.