Matthew 5:17-20 NIV
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 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.
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You won't hear these words quoted very often by lovers of the scripture. You may not hear these words talked about in Evangelical circles today. These are the words of Jesus after his opening to The Sermon on the Mount. He gives the stirring and beautiful Beatitudes, speaking of the Blessed within the kingdom of heaven, and then turns his attention to the morality of those blessed persons.
Christians today seem to pick and choose which rules from the scriptures they will adhere to and which ones they will ignore, saying that these no longer apply. Matthew's Church was collection of Jewish Christians. Like Messianic Jews today, they sought to live out both covenants faithfully, the Covenant under Moses through observing the law, and the Covenant under the blood of Jesus Christ through by living through love and grace.
Jesus follows these words by giving examples. To curse someone under your breath is the same as murdering them in your heart. To lust after another in your heart is the same as committing adultery. The Blessed of the kingdom of heaven love their enemies, they pray for those who persecute them, and they do not resist an evil doer. They do not repay evil with evil. They turn the other cheek. Moral behavior begins in the heart and mind.
Someone in history once said the only problem with Christianity is that no one has ever tried it. Here's one such quote.
"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried." - Gilbert K. Chesterton
The teachings in The Sermon on the Mount set a very high bar. It's a bar set so high it requires the grace of God. Perhaps that's the point.
