“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:20

“Therefore you are to be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

Messiah. That was the sole hope of the first-century Jews. They had grown tired of the mocking and brutal Romans that ruled over them. They desired freedom through God’s promise of the Messiah, the deliverer of His people. In comes John the Baptist who calls the Israelites to repentance and points to the man known as Jesus of Nazareth as Israel’s Messiah. Just as the people during the exodus of Egypt gathered to hear God speak at Mount Sinai in the wilderness with Moses, so these Jews gathered as Jesus spoke on a mountainside. Like those Israelites before them they were surely eager yet terrified to hear the news of this new kingdom. Their worst fears were realized when Jesus spoke the words in the above verses throughout His sermon. The Jews knew that none were more righteous than the Pharisees, their religious leaders, and were surely devastated. They must have felt even more hopeless when Jesus began to speak on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and exposed the hearts of all who were in the crowds. Questions surely would have buzzed around in their heads such as “What hope can anyone have? Is anyone worthy of entering the Messiah’s kingdom?”

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17

Unbeknownst to this people this Messiah did not come to conquer the Romans; He came to conquer them. The Sermon on the Mount wasn’t a call to self-righteousness but a call to self-helplessness. A lot of the time we may come to the Bible and seek to apply it to our lives. In this case and many others however, when the word of God was preached people were either wrecked with a sense of awareness of their own wickedness or deceived by their own self-righteousness and refused to repent or even listen.

“Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”” Acts 2:37-38

Jesus was not telling the crowds that day to be better people; He was telling them that they can’t be better people. Jesus was the One who was to live a blameless life and take on their sins on the Cross. Then after raising from the dead He gave them His life through the Holy Spirit, a new life. Jesus didn’t come to fix us; He came to completely wreck us so He could reshape us in His image. Trust Him, He knows what He is doing.

“Is not this the carpenter’s son?” Matthew 13:55