David Bahn – Reflections

Matthew 5:17-20

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Too often we try to assuage our conscience by the shortcut of making excuses. We claim that we tried to do the right thing, but just couldn’t complete the task. We say we didn’t know any better. We excuse ourselves because it wasn’t that big a deal. We try to gain peace by explaining that the good thing would not have been truly good.

There is no peace in making excuses for our sins and failures. Jesus tells us that he didn’t come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. And that he did. Perfectly. Completely. Vicariously – for us – he kept the lay in our stead.

Rather than making excuses for our waywardness and sin, we must cling to Jesus’ righteousness. Rather than try make ourselves feel better because our failure wasn’t really that bad – especially when we know better – we find comfort in the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of Christ.

The pathetic rags of our own righteousness are nothing to brag about. We’ll never gain entry into the presence of the Holy One without the holiness of Christ. But with his holiness and righteousness as our garment of salvation, we will find joy and delight in God’s eternal presence. This will also lead us to value the true righteousness of loving God and our neighbor from our hearts: the true fulfillment of the Law. And this can be done only through Christ.