Trinity 6
Dear friends in Christ. Although the Trinity Season of the Church Year seems like one long season going from June to November, there are themes or cycles within it. Last week we finished the theme of the Call to Christ’s Kingdom. In that first cycle in the Trinity season we heard about Christ calling us to faith and all that it means to be part of His holy Church. Today begins the theme or cycle the Righteousness of the Kingdom. Now we will begin to hear of the righteousness that is in Christ’s kingdom. Today’s Gospel right away sets the tone and tells us what kind of righteousness there is in Christ’s kingdom. As we study this morning’s Gospel we will see that the righteousness of Christ’s kingdom is far greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees because it is Jesus’ righteousness.
1. Our text begins after Jesus had fed the 5000 and had healed many people, by allowing them merely to touch the hem of His clothing. The report of Jesus, who was in the north of the country, had clearly spread and made its way to the south, to Jerusalem. Then the scribes and Pharisees, the ones who were guarding what they thought to be pure religion of the Jews, sent a “fact finding mission” to find out who exactly Jesus was and what He was doing. Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus.
They did not exactly “like” what they “found.” And so “by the back door” they accuse Jesus of being a false prophet by accusing His disciples: “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread". This is not the washing your mother told you to do before eating, a simple hygienic practice. Instead, this was a ceremonial washing. Because the Jews regarded so many things as being ceremonially clean or unclean, the thought was this: as you are out and about all day, your hands might have accidently become ceremonially unclean by coming into contact with an unclean person or object; therefore do a brief ceremonial washing before eating to make sure you do not contaminate your food.
By accusing Jesus’ disciples of not washing their hands in that ceremonial way before eating, these scribes and Pharisees were accusing Jesus of being a false prophet because, at the very least He is careless and lax about the Law. Certainly no prophet, let alone the Messiah, would do that!
But that raises the question: where in Scripture, from our Genesis to Malachi, do we find that ceremonial hand washing? Nowhere! It is as these scribes and Pharisees say: the tradition of the elders. This the tradition of the elders was an interpretation/ explanation made by great rabbis, mostly during the 400 years before Jesus, of the Law God had given through Moses—and eventually it worked its way into becoming the Talmud, the authoritative religious book of Jews today. By accusing Jesus of being careless and lax about these man-made laws, these scribes and Pharisees were trying to discredit Jesus and His followers.
But what about this “righteousness” the scribes and Pharisees demanded? Is it really legit? Is it true righteousness? In fact, doesn’t Jesus say earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5:20 NKJV]: unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven?
The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, the righteousness that they demanded was an outward righteousness according to man-made laws—even if it is against the Law that God Himself has given. That’s what Jesus points out: "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God"-- then he need not honor his father or mother.'
Jesus here says that in the 4th Commandment God commands the honoring of parents. One way that was done was by the children looking after and providing for parents in their old age. But the man-made tradition of the Jews said that a person who would take the money, goods, or earnings with which he could/ should support parents in their need and would designate it as a sacrifice to God and a gift to the temple does right! Such a person is righteous and outwardly looks good to the eyes of people around him because he has done such a good deed—even though God’s command of honoring parents is left undone! Jesus’ verdict: Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
That’s the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. It is a mere outward righteousness of show. Yes, it would get great honor and high praise by those seeing it. Yes, they would be highly esteemed as truly righteous people because they would be seen doing the right thing and heard saying the right thing. But this outward righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, this man-made righteousness is not the type of righteousness that God demands; it is not the type of righteousness suitable for the kingdom of Christ, for His Christian in His Church.
By the outward works of man-made laws, the scribes and Pharisees were regarded as righteous. But this so-called righteousness is really contrary to and a rejection of what God has commanded. This mere outward righteousness is really a rejection of divinely appointed good works. The holy Law of God is the only source teaching what good works are that we are to do. In the example Jesus gives in our text, God has commanded honor and respect toward parents and those in authority. But God’s will, His Law, is looked down upon as insignificant. It is seen as common/ ordinary to serve, obey and repay parents; and for parents to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord. So some humanly devised work is substituted and a person then is held in high regard for going “above and beyond” the “lowly” good work God commands in His Law.
But this trying to look and be righteous, outwardly, this “righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” is really an attempt of trying to use our works to save ourselves. All these outward acts “above and beyond” what God has commanded—aren’t they really another way of saying: I really can’t do what God has required me to do! I really do feel my sin. My conscience really is bothering me so I need to do something to quiet it!? The scribes’ and Pharisees’ tradition of the elders was really an attempt to find another mediator to gain the forgiveness of sins and to appease and reconcile God’s anger. So yes, the scribes and Pharisees had righteousness, but not one that benefited them before God.
Here today is the call for us to examine ourselves to see whether we are doing the same thing—are we looking for an outward holiness? Are we looking past/ forgetting God’s holy law, which we know we can’t do and setting up our own standard of things that we can do so that we can feel good about ourselves—and can look down on others? Aren’t we by that trying to reconcile ourselves to God?
But here our righteousness is in no way better than that of the scribes and Pharisees as we displace God’s commands with human commands and by that try to be righteous and with that try to earn our way to heaven. A huge danger of looking to and seeking that outward righteousness, that righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, is that we become carnally secure; that is, we think because we are righteous outwardly, according to our own standard, we can gain heaven on our own and so we don’t need a Savior from sin.
2. Let us look diligently at our hearts and lives and recognize and repent of this sin and seek a righteousness that is not our own, the righteousness of Christ. Only when we, through faith, are clothed with the holiness and righteousness of Christ are we truly righteous where it counts—before God. That’s why the righteousness of the Christian far exceeds that of the scribe and Pharisee and why we can enter heaven—because ours is the righteousness of Christ! That’s the righteousness of Christ’s kingdom, the righteousness of the Church!
Righteousness is what God does in Jesus. St. Paul puts it this way [Romans 1:17 NKJV]: For in [the Gospel of Christ] the righteousness of God is revealed. Our righteousness as Christians is not what we have done, but what Jesus has done for us. None of us can keep God’s holy Law, the 10 Commandments, as He expects and demands. That’s why Jesus placed Himself under the commandments to keep them for us/ in our place and so fulfill God’s righteous demands. Because we were all conceived and born in sin, Jesus had to come as a Baby conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary to cleanse and live holy and without sin every phase/ part of human life. That’s why Jesus had to go to the cross loaded down with the sins of the world, of all people ever to live, and there suffer God’s wrath and punishment for them in our place. Jesus is our righteousness both because He kept God’s Law for us and as He suffered and died for our sins. Easter is proof positive that Jesus is the righteousness of God for us as He raised Jesus, the sinless One, from the dead.
The righteousness that we have/ enjoy in Christ’s kingdom, the Church, is that holy, perfect righteousness of Jesus, far better than any man-made/ invented righteousness. Ours is the perfect righteousness that God demands of us—we couldn’t do it, but Christ Jesus did for us—to enter heaven. In Christ, our righteousness far exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.
The difference between the righteousness of the Christian and that of the scribes and Pharisees is: faith in Christ. Where there is faith in Jesus, there the person despairs of self and all his/her own righteousness, knows that he/she is a sinner deserving nothing but God’s wrath; but confesses his sin and in faith holds to Jesus, receives the forgiveness He won on the cross and is covered with Jesus’ perfect robe of righteousness and so in God’s eyes is as holy/righteous as Jesus, His dear Son.
But where there is rejection of Jesus and His righteousness, then there are all sorts of man-made attempts to be righteous; then there is all this seeming outward righteousness. But remember Jesus’ verdict on this: Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'. The vital thing is not the outward works, not humanly devised outward works but the heart—faith in Christ, that He is our righteousness.
Where there is that faith, that faith receives both the forgiveness of sin and Jesus’ righteousness. Through that faith we are forgiven, cleansed, declared righteous no matter how great our sin and how unworthy we may seem outwardly. And where there is that faith in the heart, there too is the Holy Spirit who worked that faith by baptism and the word. Where the Holy Spirit is in the heart, there He is leading us into truly good works. There we delight in God’s holy Law, and we strive to do it; for where there is faith in the heart there is love of the Lord and His will and we strive to obey it. We strive to obey it and that is done as our worship of God. Where we fail, where we are imperfect, where what we do is tainted by sin, there faith in the heart continues to rely on Christ and receive the forgiveness of sin and His righteousness which He continues to give freely and richly in His holy Word and Sacrament. The righteousness of Christ’s Kingdom, His Church, is the righteousness of Christ Himself, the only righteousness acceptable to God. INJ Amen.