A Recovering Pharisee

Matthew 5:20

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Two things that must be understood in the statement above; the one making the statement is implying He has the authority to set the perimeters on who will enter the kingdom of heaven, and what is needed is a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. 

First, what is a scribe; a scribe is one, who kept records, and in the time of Jesus the scribes belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, and scribes were the lawyers of that day.  Something began to happen around this time associated with the Pharisees, who had a habit of adding their opinions and traditions to the God-given Law.  As you read the gospels you will see Jesus in dispute with the religious establishment, and who are the leaders of such, the scribes and the Pharisees?  Mark’s gospel gives insight into the why: "And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" And He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' You leave the Commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men." And He said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the Commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!" (Mark 7:5-9 RSV)

Now let us look at the other group Jesus addresses above; the Pharisees.  “The Pharisees believed in life after death, the resurrection, the existence of angels and demons, and that the way to God was through keeping the law.” (CHARM)  I also took this definition from the “Easy English Bible Dictionary) “There were two main groups of Jews at the time of Jesus. They were called the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees said that they believed the whole Old Testament. They tried to obey all God's laws. But often they pretended to be holier than they really were. They obeyed many unimportant rules. But often they failed to obey God's most important rules. And they refused to listen to Jesus. They cared more about their religion than about God. Not all Pharisees behaved in this way. Their leaders opposed Jesus. But many other Pharisees believed Jesus. They realized that God sent Jesus. So they trusted Jesus.”

So we ask the question, how does religion work, many a religious person comes across better than both they and God know to be true, or they just pretended in public to act like they have it all together.  This writer is a recovering religious Baptist, who met Jesus in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas, and found my ladder on the wrong wall.  My hope was in being a Baptist and not in knowing the risen Lord.  I was a Pharisee, but not a good one, and that night I exchanged my version of righteousness, for the righteousness of Christ, and in His righteousness I am found without fault, before God the Father.  The apostle Paul gave this insight: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice