Day 32 of Lent: April 10, 2025

“For 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.” – Matthew 5:20

For a long time, this verse really bothered me. In fact, it bothered me so much that I avoided it.I mean—how could I ever be more righteous than the Pharisees, the ones known for their strict observance of every law and tradition?

While they were arrogant and condescending, they were also knowledgeable and expert rule-follower. And if these super-righteous rule-followers couldn’t make it, what chance did I have?I felt the weight of those words like a sentence. I believed I was destined for ashes—ruin, failure, disqualification. It seemed Jesus had set the bar impossibly high.

But then, after realizing the importance of the next verses, I began to understand what Jesus was truly saying.

Jesus begins by making a series of “you have heard it said… but I say…” statements. It’s an indictment of the religious establishment because He goes beyond the rule of the law to the heart of the law’s meaning.

I began to understand this better through Eugene Peterson’s The Message, where he interprets the passage this way:

“Trivialize even the smallest item in God’s Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom.

“You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.”

— Matthew 5:19-22, MSG

Jesus wasn’t demanding more rules or better performance. He wasn’t pointing to a checklist of holy behaviors.He was pointing to the heart.The Pharisees portrayed an image of righteousness, but they had missed what mattered most—the love of God, the mercy that flows from grace, the humility that comes from knowing we need God and others.

Jesus was offering something different: a new kind of righteousness—one that He would give.A righteousness that isn’t earned but received through faith. A righteousness found in a heart transformed by God’s love and grace.

Suddenly, this verse was no longer a threat. It was a hopeful promise.We may think we are destined for ashes, but Jesus says we are invited into a life of joy.

I once thought I had to earn my way to God, but Jesus says He’s already made the way.The same Jesus who preached this sermon is the one who went to the cross, took on my mistakes and failures, and rose again to conquer death forevermore.

Now, every fear of not being “enough” gives way to the truth of resurrection:We are not defined by what we’ve done, but by what Christ has done for us.

So, I no longer hear Matthew 5:20 as a sentence of doom. I hear it as an invitation to deeper life—a life not defined by rule-following, but by Spirit-filled transformation.

Because of this, I now hear Jesus calling me from ashes to alleluia.And if you listen, you will hear Christ is calling you too.

A Guiding Question:

“Where in your life are you still trying to earn God’s love? What would it look like to receive the grace Jesus freely gives?”