A surpassinig righteousness

10^th Week OT (R): 1 Kings 18.41-46 and Matthew 5.20-26
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Albert the Great Priory

We believe that hard work should result in great rewards. We tend to think that striving toward a goal with almost single-minded determination is a virtue. Also, when we are promoted, well-paid, congratulated, or in some way praised for our work, we see this adulation as well-earned and deserved. How often were you told as a child that good grades in school are the result of “hitting the books” and studying hard? We might even go so far as to say that academic failure is a kind of intellectual laziness, a mental lounging-about that inevitability results in a lackluster education. Who would argue that Americans bind hard work with good fruits? Competition for success is what made this country great, right? However, can we say that competition in the life of the Spirit makes us great? Well, Jesus certainly seems to think so.

After proclaiming to his disciples that he came to fulfill the Law and not to abolish it, Jesus makes a rather startling statement: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” There it is. Jesus himself teaching us that our entrance into heaven is a matter of winning a moral competition, a race toward being “more in right relationship” with God than the next guy. This race won’t be easy to win. The scribes and Pharisees know the Law better than we do. They have had more practice following the minutiae of the rules. They are naturally inclined and socially conditioned to step around both large and small violations of the regulations. And they have a long-established and morally vigilant community to call them to task when they fail. Fortunately for us, as good American entrepreneurs and sports nuts, we are game for a hard race! But unfortunately for both the scribes and Pharisees and for us, Jesus is not a moral referee nor is he our coach in the sport of righteousness.

Immediately after teaching his disciples that they must surpass the righteousness of those who follow the Law, Jesus tells his friends that being righteous is not a matter of external observance of the rules but rather an internal disposition toward the good of the Other. In other words, using Jesus' example, it is more righteous to avoid being angry with your brother than it is to simply avoid killing him. Does this mean that it is possible to kill your brother in charity and advance in righteousness? Of course not. What it means is that what judges us as either righteous or unrighteous goes well beyond how we behave. We cannot believe that a brother is foolish, that is, bereft of moral sense, and at the same time claim a right relationship with God. The new commandment, the most perfect moral order is love not behavioral correctness judged by law.

Let’s put this in terms with which we are more familiar. Despite decades of social engineering and the rule of political correctness, we are still diseased with racism, sexism, and any number of other “-ism’s” that tempt us to violate the dignity of God’s rational creatures. As Christians, we would never use racial slurs, sexual smears, or any other sort of language that degrades or insults our fellow man. Do these imposed restraints produce good will? No. P.C. terms hide contempt, foster resentment, and encourage ridicule of those we ought to respect as children of the Father. In other words, following the law of political correctness is a sure fire way of avoiding true conversion, honest righteousness. How so? Just as the scribes and Pharisees believed that they were “being righteous” by dotting every “i” and crossing every “t,” we too are inclined to believe that by merely avoiding insulting labels we come to love those who differ. But loving those who differ is much more difficult than expunging our vocabularies of obnoxious words.

Jesus came to fulfill the Law. If we will come to love one another we must do so as a matter of our faith in Christ, that is, we must do so as a consequence of having suffered and died with Christ and risen again with him to a newer life, a fresher way of moving and being with one another. That way is the way of obedience and sacrifice for the other, being Christ not only for family and friends but being Christ most especially for those we find to be the most contemptible, the most unworthy of our love. This is what Christ did. This is what we have vowed to do.