Bible Text: St Matthew 5:17–26 | Preacher: Rev. Dr. David Preus
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).
Jesus mentions two kinds of righteousness: your righteousness and the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
The Pharisees were nothing if not practical. They represented a Jewish school that took the law of God and turned it into a workable program for daily life. You might say they were the original life-hackers. Rather than leaving God’s commandments as lofty ideals, they developed detailed rules, interpretations, and built “fences” around them to keep people, but especially themselves, from even coming close to breaking them. They divided the commandments into 613 commands, or “mitzvot:” 365 negative commands (one for each day of the year to guard against daily sins) and 248 positive ones (corresponding to the traditional count of bones and limbs in the human body). In this way, they wove God’s will into the very rhythm of time and the structure of human existence.
They were the populist teachers of their day, making the law accessible and livable for ordinary people—unlike the more elitist Sadducees, who focused on Temple power and priestly privilege. You might even say they were the prosperity preachers of their day, promising people their best life yet—if they follow all their commandments. This tradition of the Pharisees, which our Lord Jesus knew well, and the Jewish rabbis later summarized in the Talmud, may be credited with inventing of the Jewish religion, which has survived to this day.
This should strike us as a bit ironic. We know the Pharisees as those who put an impossible burden on the people. And they did. Jesus calls them tyrants and hypocrites. In Matthew 23, he writes: “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matthew 23:4). In our text today, Jesus shows that no matter how practically or carefully a teacher explains and manages the law, God did not give it to make us better. It only exposes and worsens our condition. As St. Paul says, “Where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15). The Law is not a self-help manual. It is a mirror that shows us our death. So much for the righteousness of the Pharisees.
What about your righteousness? Three ways.
First, the impossible demand of the law (Formal / Active Righteousness coram Deo).
Jesus does not relax the Law. He does not lower the bar. He raises it to heaven itself. “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. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17–18). “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20). The Pharisees’ external righteousness was impressive. Jesus says it is not enough. Not even close.
Then He drives the point home with the Fifth Commandment: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire” (vv. 21–22).
Anger in the heart is already murder. A contemptuous word is already standing before the council. Calling your brother a fool is playing with hell fire. God does not trifle. As though he were giving us some outline that the best of us can simply fill in. He requires perfect obedience to the very spirit of the law—far beyond external compliance. This “formal righteousness” before God (coram Deo) is devastating news for sinners. It exposes our inability and brings condemnation.
Second, Christ’s Fulfillment in Our Place (Passive Righteousness coram Deo).
But look at the One who is teaching us. Jesus does not merely expound the Law—he does it. Where we have failed in every imaginable way—in thought, word, and deed—Jesus has perfectly loved his brothers. He never harbored anger in his heart. He never spoke a contemptuous word. Even when they crucified him, he opened his mouth only to speak the truth. Ever the teacher. He went to the altar of the cross with perfect obedience. And there, in His body, He took every broken relationship, every outburst of anger, every last penny of our debt into himself and He paid it all. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, finished the transaction in his own flesh nailed to the cross. He fulfilled all righteousness in himself by himself, but not for himself. He fulfilled the very spirit of the law in that he did it all for us.
Everything the law demands, Christ himself accomplished for us. He did it all by himself. This is the passive, alien righteousness of faith because it is the righteousness of another, not of ourselves, and it becomes ours by faith in God’s promise: Christ’s perfect obedience and atoning work are freely imputed to us by God’s grace. Received through faith alone, God declares us righteous in his sight (coram Deo), not because of our efforts, but because of His gift. This is the righteousness, which surpasses that of the Pharisees. It it his own righteousness, and He gives it to us. Not a righteousness we manufacture by trying harder. Not the Pharisees’ managed, doable version of the Law. But the perfect, vicarious obedience of the Son of God, credited to us freely by faith. In Christ, we are sons and heirs of eternal salvation. The Father looks at us and sees the righteousness of Jesus—complete, surpassing, and eternal.
Third, the Practical, Christian Use of the Law (Coram Mundo).
Jesus shows Himself to be the most practical Teacher of all. He proves that we can be reconciled. We have what it takes—not because we are strong enough, but because the Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts. We are no longer slaves to anger and score-keeping. We are free.
“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (vv. 23–24). God doesn’t want your gift. He wants you to be reconciled. Come to terms quickly with your accuser, Jesus warns, or you will end up in prison with the last penny demanded. The legal process will crush you. The law always does.
With our standing before God secured by Christ, Jesus now calls us to live out an active, Christian righteousness in daily life. In the example of anger and reconciliation, He urges us to be reconciled with our brother or sister “on the way” to avoid judgment.
We hear this and we feel the weight. Who among us has not harbored anger in his heart? Who has not let the sun go down on his wrath? Who has not spoken words that cut deeper than a sword? We hear the cynical voices whisper: Reconciliation is impossible. Words are futile. That relationship is dead. Just move on. Nonsense. Those are the voices of the old Adam, the voices of despair, the voices of the devil himself. Litigious society, for shame, this evil spirit is seeping into the church as well. But we are above that. If Jesus has raised us to a higher standard than than that of the Pharisees, it is because he has raised us to a higher level altogether. We are sons and fellow heirs of heaven and all its treasures. In Christ, for his sake, we have been reconciled to God. And in Christ we are free to have mercy on each other and forgive as we have been forgiven. We do this not to earn God’s favor, but because we already have it in Christ.
He has fulfilled the law for you. Every iota, every dot. Your anger, your insults, your broken relationships—He has taken them into his own body and nailed them to the cross. You are forgiven. You are righteous in Him. Therefore, be reconciled to your brother. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Share the word of peace that the world cannot give. And then come back to the altar with joy, offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving to the God who has made his righteousness your own.
In Jesus’ name. Amen