The Righteousness of the Kingdom

In  Matthew's account of Jesus' life, Jesus said, "Unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)

Say that again, Jesus?

Did he just say we need to be more perfect than the scribes and Pharisees?




No. That's not what he said. And I don't think Jesus is asking disciples to be better so they can consider themselves superior in righteousness.

So, what's Jesus getting at with this "righteousness" language? First, let's get one thing clear: the Pharisees were well-intentioned. They were not out to be judgmental or the bad guys. That we're quick to distance ourselves from them and call them out might say just as much about ourselves. We might be closer to them than we'd like to admit.

The Pharisees' brand of righteousness plays out in their interactions with Jesus. Consistently throughout the gospels, the Pharisees call Jesus out for falling short. Imagine that. The religious elite suggesting that Jesus, God with us, fell short. Fell short of what? Their own standard of "righteousness." This standard was based on the law that God gave, to be sure. But it got a little mixed with human ways of measurement and evaluation that were not exactly God's ways. So from their perception of things, Jesus fell short.

He fell short in a couple main ways. First, he didn't seem to follow the "rules" very well. He did stuff on the Sabbath, he touched sick people, he didn't wash his hands.

Second, he regularly spent time in the presence of the ones who were "unrighteous." And by this, I mean to say that Jesus hung out with everyone. He spent time with the ones who were not perceived to be worth the time. You know, the person down the street who "everyone" doesn't get along with and they'd rather not have that person on the block; the person who did something that everyone in town is talking about (and it's not good); or the parents whose children just are "not the best influence"; the parent who really is not a parent (by whose standards, by the way?); the person who drinks and smokes too much. Or the person who really just does everything you are against.

Yea, those people.

Well, Jesus spent time with them. He went into their homes. He ate with them. He lifted them up. He let them know God was not leaving them alone. The Pharisees refused. It was damaging for their relationship with God to be with such people. It might make them less righteous. Or so the Pharisees thought.

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The interplay between Jesus and the Pharisees leads me to identify two kinds of righteousness (Someone else said this once. I'm going in a little different direction here...): righteousness as moral perfection and righteousness as having one's identity aligned with God's creational purposes.

The first kind of righteousness is this idea of moral perfection. It sees God's expectations in terms of a list of rules or laws that must be checked off and followed or there's no treat at the end of the day. It's about being "perfect." It's the kind of righteousness that enables people to evaluate others on a scale. This scale, of course, has a tendency to be rather personalized and even "group-ized." Certain groups of people are more righteous than others, and if you're part of that group then you can consider yourself more righteous. There is always the group who do it better than someone else. And people quickly say that they're not "perfect"--but they're always better.

We all promote this sort of righteousness in our world today. All it takes is a movement of people. All of the sudden those involved in the movement are more righteous than those who do not buy into the movement and it's ideals, which nearly always functionally turn into matters of morality and ethics, no matter how much people might insist they're not about "morality." This hits all sectors: Republicans, Democrats, climate-change movement, anti-abortion movement, pro-life movement--the list can go on, and on, and on. All of these see themselves as more righteous than their opponents. Even being Christian can unfortunately slip into this (more accurately, it has slipped into this). It happens when the idea of achievement finds its way in. You mix achievement righteousness with group identity and it's generally not good.

This sort of righteousness has opponents: the unrighteous (eewww!). And this righteousness keeps the unrighteous at a distance by judging and condemning the "unrighteous." Jesus understood that there were "unrighteous" people as well, but his understanding of righteousness did not keep them at a distance. To the contrary, Jesus' righteousness led him to embrace "them." His idea of "righteousness" was very different than this moral perfection idea.

Jesus' kind of righteousness is not measured by how well one does individually in relation to certain moral standards. This kind of righteousness is not just about me and my morality. It does not see the purpose of God in terms of laws or rules, but sees beyond these to what the laws and rules point to and are intended to bring about--restoration of our lives to God's creational purposes. The emphasis shifts from doing and achieving to being and fulfilling. It is not something we can do or hold over people, because it's not about achievement, but about identity. It's something we're restored to and experience as we allow the Spirit of Christ to have its work in us.

When Jesus says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," I suggest that Jesus is saying, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for a new identity." Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for an identity and a transformation of thinking and  priorities that only God can bring about, an identity where our entire way of being is in lock-step with Jesus.

This is not following laws or rules. This is habits, thought processes, ways of presenting one's self in the world. And it goes beyond just our individual lives. It's a hunger that the entire world might be operating as it was intended, according to God's justice. That's what the idea of "righteousness/justice" is all about anyway. If you've noticed, I keep using both words. That's because there is one Greek word that we try to make sense of in English as “righteousness” or “justice.” It’s the word “dik-eye-oh-soon-ay.” This word in Greek refers to when all things are made right; when people live as they are intended to live. When things are out of order or out of alignment, then executing “justice/righteousness” is the act of restoring. A chiropractor, for example, works toward this idea of “justice/righteousness” when she/he tries to realign the spine or other bones in the body.

Of course, how we are intended to live might vary significantly depending on what your starting point is. If the nature of things is such that certain people are meant to be superior to other people, then things are not “just” or “righteous” until this is a reality. 

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Some of you might be itching right now because it seems that I've taken all of the "rules" out of righteousness. How can we tell who's righteous and who's not? How do we measure righteousness? These questions come from the mentality of the first kind of righteousness--the one we don't want.

The apostle Paul made similarly frustrating moves, which is part of what got him in hot water with some people. He took the "rules" away. How do we live, then, Paul? His answer? By the Spirit. And instead of rules, Paul gave the fruit of the Spirit, he gave the example of Christ.

Similarly, Jesus made things interesting when he messed with the rules. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is famous for saying, "You have heard it was said...but I say to you..." In these statements, which you can find in Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus usually begins with a well-known rule or law and takes it to another level. For example, "You have heard it was said, "You shall not murder." Clear. Simple. Good law. Jesus went on to say, "But I say to you, don't be angry..." Whoops. Can't we just go back to the clear and simple rules, Jesus? In these statements, Jesus made things more fuzzy and vague in some ways. More open to dancing with the Spirit than checking off the rule list. And these things can't be measured by the traditional scorecard. Don't be angry. I can't judge the bad people as easily now. And I might just be one of them.

Not much of the gospels are occupied with Jesus giving clear rules. What we get more of are parables and Jesus demonstrating God's righteousness in how he interacted with people, not constricted to following laws, but bent on restoring the image of God in humanity and the world to justice. That's why the Beatitudes are not laws. That's why Jesus summarized the entire law in two commands: "Love God and love your neighbor as yourself." (Thanks for clarifying what that means, Jesus.) Oh, and when you have a chance, see how many times Jesus or Paul quote the Ten Commandments as defining the rules or laws or the ethic we need to follow to be "righteous"--especially when it would have been most helpful for them to do so. Ok, I can't wait. The answer is zero.
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If the "righteousness" Jesus brought, modeled, and calls us into is not about following the rules or the laws, what's it about? It's about individuals and the world living as God intended. It's not getting past our humanity; it's about being truly and fully human as Jesus in his life defines it. This is only possible through God's work in us.

Many of you started a car this morning. When you started it, many things were set in motion. Each part of your car did what it was made to do to make the car engine run, and ultimately to make it move and get you to where you needed to be. The spark plugs fired as they should; the transmission put the car into the proper gear; the gas line fed gas as you pressed the pedal; the wheels turned. The car behaved as it was designed and for the purpose for which it was made. That's righteousness.

This is not just feel-good theology. This should take us into areas of human relations, economics, politics--all of it--and bring us face-to-face with a world that is not firing on all cylinders. And those who are part of Jesus kingdom, being transformed day-to-day, should not be able to stop themselves from hungering and thirsting for God's righteousness. This righteousness is defined by Jesus' example and teaching, and in the rest of the Beatitudes. It consists of being poor in spirit, one who mourns, meek, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker. It consists of forgiveness (70 x 7). It is told about in The Parable of the Workers in the Fields and The Good Samaritan. It shows up in First Corinthians 13 and Philippians 2. It's inviting the neighbor over whom you know everyone doesn't like because you hunger for God's righteousness to play out in our life and in theirs. The righteousness of the kingdom is not just about me and my moral life. It's inherently relational and requires something beyond ourselves. It's also not an option.

The righteousness of the kingdom can't be measured and does not derive from following laws or rules. We're not "better" because of it. We're 'just' living into our full God intended humanity (Romans 5 & 6). It can only be lived as it becomes part of us as God transforms us into the people God created us to be, reflecting his image in our lives and lifting others up to do the same. This is the righteousness people of Jesus' kingdom hunger and thirst for.