Salt, Light, and a City on a Hill

It is one thing to hear Jesus talk about life in the Kingdom of God as being poor in spirit, being meek, mourning, and hungering and thirsting after righteousness. It is quite another for Jesus to tell his disciples that unless their righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, they will never enter the kingdom of God. On the surface of hearing this, the disciples must have thought, “Who of us can be saved?” I mean, nobody was more religious than the scribes and Pharisees, who were famous for their fastidious keeping of the 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions (by their calculations) found in the law. Plus, there were over 600 additional laws they had added to keeping the Sabbath.So, when Jesus says that they had to be more righteous than these guys, the disciples must have wilted. I would have! However, as we contemplate this Sunday, what Jesus is talking about is actually the death of religion! Jesus hated religion! In the hands of religious people, the law always gets misused and abused. As Brennan Manning says in Abba’s Child, “In the hands of the Pharisees…religion became a tool to intimidate and enslave rather than liberate and empower. The joyous celebration and covenant stressed by the prophets disappeared.” There is probably no one reading this who does not have some scars or hasn’t had to go through therapy because of religious people.So, pray tell: what does Jesus mean when he says that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? I mean, before this, Jesus says when we really love God, love people, and love life, we are like salt and light in a culture. God’s people bring joy, light, hope, and make things in the culture around them better. How can this be? I don’t know about you, but the religious people I know tend to kill the party, not enhance the party. They major in guilt, not joy; control, not freedom; and they tend to be very mean. I am not making this up––Jesus’ harshest words were uttered against religious professionals!On Sunday, we will talk about the difference between religious goodness and gospel goodness—one is death and the other is life. One puts burdens on people they can’t bear, and the other brings joy. Hope you are ready; this will be fun because the gospel really, really, really is better than you can imagine!