There’s a status to be attained in this new reality, but where Jesus is getting the status language is from the least, the idea of the least and the greatest commands and so if you undo the least of the greatest commands, what you have done will be done to you, you’ll become least in the Kingdom of Heaven. In Jewish literature of this time, it was an honor, shame culture and your public status, your standing in public, your honor was everything and of your family, because your own honor is tied up in the honor of your family. Figures of speech are ways of talking about it, framed in those of reward or punishments of honor, and honor or shame of least or great. This is the genius of Jesus saying, the Kingdom of Heaven has touched down here and now, which once we understand that to be the servant of all is to be the greatest, you get the greatest leaders. The language of reward is a prominent theme in Jesus’ teaching and he doesn’t see it as something bad to hope for reward or to live your life now in light of some hope for reward or honor, but the nature of that reward and the nature of that honor is to be immersed in the beauty of God’s own eternal love and that reward has a transforming effect on all that we value and think that’s important, this is about the pure in heart, the kind of honor and greatness that Jesus wants for us.
Jesus said, I haven’t come to dismantle, I’ve come to fulfill and here’s two things that I’m going to say to reinforce that point. Jesus is pro-Torah observance, the way he defines it and how does he define it, here’s what it’s not, Matthew 5:20, unless your doing what is right far surpasses that of the Bible teachers and the Pharisees, you won’t be entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s a total jab, because Jesus teaches in hyperbolic overstatements, cut off your hand, hate your mother and father, unless you’re willing to leave every possession you have, we never want to gut the power that Jesus meant to deliver the shock factor, but at the same time, Jesus, he’s a wisdom teacher and he expects us to take one saying of his in light of the whole body and he’s really down on the Pharisees here, because he really sees and they were the movement that was most against him and so he’s really intense and often mean in what he says about the Pharisees.
Jesus’ intensity here has often been misunderstood or at least certainly misapplied and carried on by Christians throughout centuries, who have been incredibly mean and violent towards Jewish communities and Jewish people and Jesus would be really appalled that his followers would violate the command to love God and love your neighbor by doing that. Jesus had a lot of intense feelings about these people, because he really cared about this vision of the New Jerusalem and the city on the hill and Israel fulfilling it’s call to the nations and it’s that sparring between family members that Jesus is expressing. Unless your life that aligns with the will of God surpasses the most religious devoted people you could possibly imagine, surpassing there way of life, you won’t be entering the Kingdom of Heaven, because Jesus is upping the ante here. Jesus is actually calling people to be more faithful to the will of God that is revealed in the Torah.
But the way that you get and discern the will of God through the commands of the Torah, what Jesus is about to explore is more intense to the Pharisees. Jesus uses the word righteousness here, right relationships, people doing right by each other, somehow the phrase to do right or do the right thing, there’s somewhere out there in the universe, is a idea of right and I need to align myself to it and that’s actually true to the biblical worldview, but the way you align yourself to it, isn’t by living abstract, it’s doing right by other people is what puts us in right relationship. Jesus uses this word multiple other times, in the beginning of Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is saying, be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of other people, so that they will see you, if you do that, you will have no reward, because righteousness is something that you do and it’s something that’s publicly visible, it’s a way of life. Righteousness that might be visible, but might be invisible, because that’ll keep your heart in the right space, pure as it were. But the point here is, it’s a certain way of living that aligns with God’s will and he names generosity to the poor first, but then prayer, which is more doing right by God, relating to God and then fasting, which is something that we do before God on behalf of other people.
Sometimes fasting might be on behalf of yourself or your circumstances, but almost always you’re doing to tell God you’re serious about your request for another person or situation, but the point is, there is a certain way of living that aligns with God’s will and he calls it righteousness, so seek to live in such a way that you do right by God, a life that aligns with the will of God. The phrase righteousness of God could mean two things, it could mean God’s own righteousness, God’s way of doing right by people or it could mean the righteousness that you do for God, that is doing right by God. The parallel phrase is God’s Kingdom and so you would be God’s Kingdom and God’s way of doing things, seek to live by God’s way of doing things. The nuance of righteousness in the gospel of Matthew, our job is to be righteous, to live by God’s will. What is this greater righteousness, this way of life that fulfills the Torah? Jesus sees a life that is devoted to love of God and love of neighbor is a life that fulfills the Torah, that is righteousness as he intends it.
Jesus said, I haven’t come to dismantle, I’ve come to fulfill and here’s two things that I’m going to say to reinforce that point. Jesus is pro-Torah observance, the way he defines it and how does he define it, here’s what it’s not, Matthew 5:20, unless your doing what is right far surpasses that of the Bible teachers and the Pharisees, you won’t be entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s a total jab, because Jesus teaches in hyperbolic overstatements, cut off your hand, hate your mother and father, unless you’re willing to leave every possession you have, we never want to gut the power that Jesus meant to deliver the shock factor, but at the same time, Jesus, he’s a wisdom teacher and he expects us to take one saying of his in light of the whole body and he’s really down on the Pharisees here, because he really sees and they were the movement that was most against him and so he’s really intense and often mean in what he says about the Pharisees.
Jesus’ intensity here has often been misunderstood or at least certainly misapplied and carried on by Christians throughout centuries, who have been incredibly mean and violent towards Jewish communities and Jewish people and Jesus would be really appalled that his followers would violate the command to love God and love your neighbor by doing that. Jesus had a lot of intense feelings about these people, because he really cared about this vision of the New Jerusalem and the city on the hill and Israel fulfilling it’s call to the nations and it’s that sparring between family members that Jesus is expressing. Unless your life that aligns with the will of God surpasses the most religious devoted people you could possibly imagine, surpassing there way of life, you won’t be entering the Kingdom of Heaven, because Jesus is upping the ante here. Jesus is actually calling people to be more faithful to the will of God that is revealed in the Torah.
But the way that you get and discern the will of God through the commands of the Torah, what Jesus is about to explore is more intense to the Pharisees. Jesus uses the word righteousness here, right relationships, people doing right by each other, somehow the phrase to do right or do the right thing, there’s somewhere out there in the universe, is a idea of right and I need to align myself to it and that’s actually true to the biblical worldview, but the way you align yourself to it, isn’t by living abstract, it’s doing right by other people is what puts us in right relationship. Jesus uses this word multiple other times, in the beginning of Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is saying, be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of other people, so that they will see you, if you do that, you will have no reward, because righteousness is something that you do and it’s something that’s publicly visible, it’s a way of life. Righteousness that might be visible, but might be invisible, because that’ll keep your heart in the right space, pure as it were. But the point here is, it’s a certain way of living that aligns with God’s will and he names generosity to the poor first, but then prayer, which is more doing right by God, relating to God and then fasting, which is something that we do before God on behalf of other people.
Sometimes fasting might be on behalf of yourself or your circumstances, but almost always you’re doing to tell God you’re serious about your request for another person or situation, but the point is, there is a certain way of living that aligns with God’s will and he calls it righteousness, so seek to live in such a way that you do right by God, a life that aligns with the will of God. The phrase righteousness of God could mean two things, it could mean God’s own righteousness, God’s way of doing right by people or it could mean the righteousness that you do for God, that is doing right by God. The parallel phrase is God’s Kingdom and so you would be God’s Kingdom and God’s way of doing things, seek to live by God’s way of doing things. The nuance of righteousness in the gospel of Matthew, our job is to be righteous, to live by God’s will. What is this greater righteousness, this way of life that fulfills the Torah? Jesus sees a life that is devoted to love of God and love of neighbor is a life that fulfills the Torah, that is righteousness as he intends it.