In Matthew 5:20 Jesus says, “…I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Those words, spoken in Jesus’ sermon on the mount, were no doubt among the most shocking words the common people heard from Jesus. The Pharisees were the epitome of what it meant to meticulously keep the law of Moses. If their track record wasn’t squeaky clean, the chances are they wouldn’t remain a Pharisee for very long. And the everyday folks knew this. So they must have been overawed by the very thought of having to out perform the Pharisees in practicing what they understood righteousness to be, and so should we if we believe righteousness is rule-keeping.
But I’m convinced that righteousness is something quite different from that. Jesus made it clear in the rest of his teaching that what God is really after is for us to love one another, that is, to help each other grow more responsive to God. And even that was to be rooted in first seeing each other through God's eyes, that is, as being exceedingly precious to him.
Pharisaic righteousness always has an eye on self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. Self is on the throne. The righteousness of God has our eyes on how he sees other people and on being as helpful as we can be in helping them open up to God. God is on the throne.
