When I do a good thing (a kind, selfless service), and when I refrain from doing a wrong thing – where does that come from? It doesn’t come from nowhere, any more than a fruit can appear on the branch apart from the whole process of being created and nourished by the tree. Everything we do, comes from somewhere. The question is, what will it take for all those somethings to come from a place within us that has been formed by Jesus?
Early in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus already feels the need to clarify something: “Do not think that I’ve come to abolish the law or the prophets. I haven’t come to abolish them, but fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).” Apparently, the amount of time he spends with sick and marginalized people, telling them that even though the world makes them feel like losers, they are actually the most blessed people on earth (5:1-12), is giving the impression that Jesus wants to start something totally new, throwing out the old ways.
But Jesus doesn’t want to get rid of the old ways. He wants to uphold them completely. He intends that every bit of Jewish law shall remain standing “until heaven and earth pass away (5:18).” But he does want to fulfill it, to bring religious observance to its fullest and best expression. So he goes on, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (5:20).” But… aren’t the scribes and Pharisees the ones observing the law better than anyone else? How can we “surpass” that?
So this is what Jesus is giving us: obverse religious law perfectly, and observe religious law better than those who observe religious law perfectly. That’s what it means to be his disciples, his students. That’s what we are signing up for when we are baptized, and when we follow him up this mountain.
On it’s face, it’s a contradiction. But something deeper, something beyond contradictions, must be going on. Be religious, Jesus is saying. But don’t be too religious. But also, be more than religious. All at the same time. That’s the life he’s giving to us. And that’s what he’s equipping us to be. He’s making us good rule followers and good rule breakers at the same time, just like he is.
When we do a good thing, where does that come from? Does it come from a shallow righteousness, one that only wants to alleviate the pressure of the religious expectations put upon us, and knows how to mimic what we think the religiously correct thing is? Or does it come from deep within our being where the love of God has been allowed to make itself at home?
What inhabits the heart of Jesus is a deeper righteousness. It is an inner goodness, vitality and beauty that cannot be nailed down by following the rules, nor will we stumble into it by discarding the rules. His life plays at a frequency that can only be heard and experienced when we keep all the “thou shalt nots” and move beyond all the “thou shalt nots” at the same time, which is what the rest of the Sermon will be teaching us how to do.
That’s what is going on in the heart of Jesus. And he wants to, intends to, put that same deep, naturally flowing righteousness into you and me. Are we ready to receive it? Are we ready to live it out?