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Righteousness

January 14, 2001

TEXT: MATTHEW 5:17-20

The Beatitudes describe the proper posture in which we come to God, and reminds us that the price of admission into the kingdom is empty hands and hungry hearts. When Jesus calls his people to be salt and light, he is essentially telling us to be who we are by his grace - a visible community that penetrates into the very fabric of society.

Today we are trying to understand righteousness according to the theology of Matthew. Look at what Jesus said to his disciples: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." The word there for "surpasses" means "to FAR exceed."

Jesus is making it very plain here. He's not pulling punches or mincing words. "Unless your righteousness SURPASSES/ FAR EXCEEDS that of the Pharisees and the scribes/teachers of the law you will NEVER enter the kingdom of heaven."

Think about that a second. That sounds pretty hard. In fact, it seems to be almost an impossible kind of statement. And so the first question I want to ask myself when I hear those words is: What was so bad about the Scribes and Pharisees? What was wrong with their righteousness? What were they lacking? Because these were the folks who were working OVERTIME trying to please God. And Jesus is calling us to not only surpass that, but to far exceed it?? What does he mean by that?

Who were these Scribes and Pharisees? Scribes were Bible teachers. I hate to say it, but if I were a Jew who lived in 1st century Palestine, I'd be a scribe. Scribes were Bible teachers. They were experts in the Law of Moses, the Torah, and the Prophets.

Who were the Pharisees? The Pharisees were very devout, pious people. They were spiritual leaders who tried to live out the Law in practical ways with the common people.

When we hear those two titles today we automatically think of them as bad people. But they were kind of the best of the best. They weren't bad people. These were the good guys. Most of us couldn't get into their club. There are a few of you who could squeak in, but most of us couldn't even meet the entrance requirements.

I've been doing a little research investigating the possibility of pursuing my doctoral degree. In the arena of doctoral studies expertise is not demanded, it's assumed. You have to have a Master of Divinity Degree of ninety-six hours, not to mention your Bachelor's Degree, and a 3.0 GPA or better. Not only that you have to have a minimum of five full years of professional ministry experience, and to even apply for a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies you have to be proficient in at least 4 languages - Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and German. (I can hardly SPELL the word Aramaic) And all of that just to be CONSIDERED for acceptance into the program.

That's the way you became a Scribe or a Pharisee. You had to have a certain degree of informational competence and understanding of the Law and the Prophets, to even be considered as a Scribe. And you had to have a depth of spirituality and discipline in your life to even be considered for the holy club called the Pharisees.

Those were the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Now I want you to hear the way Matthew depicts the Scribes and Pharisees in chapter 23:25. This is Matthew's view of righteousness - what it is and what it isn't. And so how does Matthew view the scribes and Pharisees?

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."

Look at verse 27: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

Let's look at another example of one of Jesus' confrontations with the Pharisees in Matthew 12:9-14: "Going on from that place, Jesus went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him: 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' He said to them: 'If any one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.' Then he said to the man: 'Stretch out your hand.' So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus."

Remember that we're asking ourselves the question of righteousness. What it is, and what it's not, and Jesus' concern with our righteousness surpassing that of the Scribes and Pharisees? What does "righteous" mean for Matthew?

With that in mind turn to Matthew 25:31-46: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the RIGHTEOUS will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did NOT do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the RIGHTEOUS to eternal life."

What is righteousness? Righteousness, according to Matthew, is taking care of people who have needs. It is having compassion and concern for your fellow human beings. It is loving them as you yourself would like to be loved. You say: "I don't know. It seems to me that righteousness is about getting myself all fixed up, and cleaned up!"

Well, let's look at one more example.

Turn to Matthew 1:18-19. "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph was a RIGHTEOUS man and did not want to expose he to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly."

The man with the withered hand - the compassion of the sheep and the goats - Joseph setting aside his rights out of concern for Mary are all giving a description of righteousness. Righteousness is a major theme for the gospel of Matthew, and Matthew is trying to help us to see that righteousness is always a relational principle! It is always a covenant concept!

Matthew would have us to know that righteousness makes no sense apart from relationships. That is what Jesus is talking to his disciples about in chapter 5 of the Sermon on the Mount, and that's exactly the reason that Jesus is so hard on the Scribes the Pharisees. They had forgotten that righteousness is not about their cleaning up and looking good, but that righteousness is about relationships with other people. Righteousness is ALWAYS relational.

Jesus himself summed up the Law by saying: "In everything you do, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Jesus' summation of the Law and the Prophets is: "treating other people the way that YOU would want to be treated."

Jesus always treated other people in what Martin Buber calls an "I-THOU" relationship. He never treated people as objects, but always as subjects to be encountered. He encountered other human beings as people who deserved to be given value and dignity, because they were a creation of God and they deserved to be treated as such.

That's the very reason Jesus prefaces everything he has to say in the remainder of chapter 5 with a call for righteousness, because righteousness is about relationships, and until our relationships are right we will never be righteous.

This passage serves as a HINGE to connect the indicative beatitudes with the imperative commands of how to live.

The Sermon on the Mount describes what Jesus has to say about lust. How is lust a relational issue? In lusting we devalue another human person. The other person becomes an object and we break all sense of covenant with them. Righteousness is not possible when people are only objects to be used, rather than human beings to be given dignity.

The story of God is clear - RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS! The way we treat people - the way we think about people - the way we talk about people. The way we are with people determines our righteousness. And Jesus says: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

Several years ago I had the opportunity to tour the Queen Mary, now a floating hotel and museum in Long Beach, California. When it was first launched in 1936, it was the largest ship to cross any ocean. It served through four decades and even in WW II. It has a fascinating history.

But the thing that was most interesting to me was that during its conversion process from a sailing vessel to museum, her three massive smoke stacks were removed to be stripped down and repainted. As they were sat down on the deck, all three instantly crumbled. At first, they had no idea why. Until finally, someone figured out that what had once been 4 inch steel plate from which the stacks had been formed, now had completely disintegrated. The steel, in fact, had rusted completely away. All that remained were 30 coats of paint that had been applied over the years. There was nothing left but an appearance, an outward shell, with nothing inside.

If there is a hunger inside of you for a righteousness that would give you the power to live your life rightly in relationships, because you are hungry and thirsty to do just that, then you WILL be filled! And it won't just be the outward appearance of religious paint with nothing inside. It will be the river of God flowing from the inside out.