Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The Pharisees, were masters of doing. The story Jesus tells in Luke 18:9-14 about a tax collector and a pharisee who both went to the temple to pray was the ideal expression of the way of their way of life. In essense, they prayed, fasted and gave more than everyone.
Yet, Jesus’ words today however suggested that to enter the kingdom of heaven, we had to outdo the Pharisees in righteous works. And that beloved, was a big ask. In other words, Jesus was saying ‘the goal post has shifted and the requirements for access, have been updated.
As an example, while the world has degrees of punishment and classification for various offenses, in Jesus’ update, insults and ‘anger towards another’ were elevated to the same level of severity as murder. If nothing at all, that was our cue to alert us that our works, no matter how many, will be insufficient to meet the updated minimum criteria for acceptance.
That is why our token was updated to Jesus. He is the only one who meets that set criteria – the perfect lamb and the altar of sacrifice. Lest we forget, we are of course saved unto good works, but our works are not enough to save us. Only Jesus can.
#sly
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