Jesus is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and just before the passage we just heard, he says, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
This would have stressed out his hearers, because, they would say, “Well, the scribes and Pharisees are the professional holy people. If they, with all their fastidiousness in observing the law, can’t get into the kingdom, then the rest of us poor slobs don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell!”
What Jesus was getting at was that although the scribes and Pharisees obey each commandment with the utmost precision, they miss the whole point. They are fixated on the externals. Whatever they do, they do to be seen by others. They pray on street corners, sound trumpets before they give alms, and look dismal when they fast. All this calls attention to themselves, and they gain a reputation for righteousness, but the fact is, their hearts are cold, flatlined, without zest; they lack justice, mercy, and compassion.
- They may never have killed anyone, but their hearts are full of hate, their mouths full of bitter words that can lodge in people’s souls like bullets to the spine.
- And technically speaking, they may never have committed adultery, but they are unfeeling toward their own wives whom they were willing to divorce for simply burning the bread, while at the same time their own hearts wandered elsewhere.
So he says No more gaming the system. A life of faith can’t be just about a technically correct, dry, passionless observance of the commandments. It’s also gotta be about the fire we carry in our hearts.
As Frederick Buechner writes, the scribes and Pharisees are like a kid taking piano lessons whose exasperated teacher tells him "You haven't got it right!" The fact is, the kid is holding his hands precisely the way he's been told. His fingering is absolutely correct.
He has memorized the piece perfectly. He has hit all the proper notes with deadly accuracy. But his heart's not in it, only his fingers. What he's playing is a sort of music, but nothing that will start voices singing or feet tapping. He has succeeded in boring everybody to death, including himself.
The scribes and Pharisees were playing it by the book. They didn't slip up on a single do or don't. But they got it all wrong.
Righteousness, as Jesus sees it, means getting it all right. “If you play it the way it's supposed to be played, there shouldn't be a still foot in the house.”
So the question is how to bring the outside of our lives into synch with the inside? How do we become not like the scribes and Pharisees but integrated and whole?
It requires some spiritual work. It's a task of gradually, over the years, coming to know ourselves. The more we know ourselves, the more we come to understand the blocks to fully living the Sermon on the Mount and how to overcome those blocks.
It’s a matter of:
- Slowly understanding how anger rises in us, comes to expression, and then subsides.
- Learning how our own lust can get out of our control, hurling us along paths we never would have chosen
- Discovering also how we can shortcut forgiveness, how we hesitate and sometimes completely stall when it comes to initiating conversations that are both truthful and reconciling.
For the next few moments, I’d like us to walk through that Christian exercise of mindful awareness as it is described by the Irish Jesuits. We’ll do this for a few moments, and I’ll close with this.
So close your eyes. Take a slow deep breath. Feel the weight of your body in your chair, your feet touching the floor, your hands resting in your lap. Relax. Be still. Let any tensions of today slip away.
Know that you are in the presence of God, that God rejoices in your presence.
Look back over the last 24 hours. What do I have to thank God for? What gifts have I received?
Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit whom the father has sent in my name will teach you everything”. Ask God’s spirit to guide your memory as you look back over the last 24 hours. Look back peacefully and see what comes to mind. Trust that the Holy Spirit will help you see what God wants to show you.
Recall the sights and smells and tastes and sounds. Look at places you have been, things you’ve done, people you’ve been with.
Look for those moments when there has been energy, life, light. When have you been open to the gifts of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control?
God is always present with us so that we and others can live abundantly. Ask yourself: When did you most fully cooperate with God? When did you feel most alive?
Become aware of the times when you felt out of tune with God. Ask yourself, “When did you feel least alive?” Try not to be judgemental, but simply to notice.
What do you want to ask forgiveness for? When have you chosen distance over closeness to God? Perhaps when your own preoccupations have taken center stage, and crowded out other peoples needs. Receive that forgiveness and healing with confidence.
What do you want to ask God for? What do you need to strengthen so as to follow the way you are being drawn by the Spirit? Ask God for whatever you need, to open your heart to whatever surprise may come, to open your eyes to God in unexpected places, to open your ears to become tuned in to God’s voice.
This God forgives and empowers you to follow Jesus in your daily choices, great and small.
Glory be...
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