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Be seated. Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, to him who loves us and has washed us clean from our sins with his own blood, and made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve God and his Father. To him be all glory, honor, and dominion forever and ever. Amen. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. That seems like a pretty imposing statement by Jesus in today's gospel. An ultimatum we just can't ignore or get around. But if Jesus speaks with ultimate words about the kingdom of heaven, then so should we. We should be willing to speak what Jesus speaks, so long as we use his terms and not our terms. Our righteousness must be so great, otherwise, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The first question in our hearts might be: I want to enter the kingdom of heaven. How can my righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees? But what is the righteousness? And who are the Pharisees? To be righteous is to be just or right in the eyes of God. The Pharisees were righteous. Jesus even says so. Their practice in keeping God's law was impeccable. They followed the law to the T. If they tithed, they tithed according to what the law required. If they were required to wash by God's law, well, then they lawfully cleansed themselves and all their utensils. If God's law said they must pray and fast, well, they fasted and prayed with daily fervor. Their piety was unmatched, and they attended the synagogue whenever the daily prayer offices were required of them. The Pharisees believed they were righteous before God because of what they did both toward God and toward their neighbor. No doubt each of them thought, I have to be righteous before God. I love God by giving to God what he requires of me. I love my neighbor by not stealing from them or harming them or committing adultery. But if our righteousness must exceed theirs, then who can be saved? This is not unlike Jesus' disciples asking, then who can be saved? After hearing that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? Who can be saved if our righteousness, our keeping of God's law must exceed that of the Pharisees? Is the answer found in how much we do for God and neighbor? The answer is found in the rest of Jesus' gospel teaching. Why did Christ come? He came to fulfill the law. His words are not ambiguous. This is his purpose. 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. Jesus didn't come to throw out the law as though it were good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot. The law must stand. It is good. It's God's. It must remain until the very last second of time. The law will remain until heaven and earth pass away, and all of God's law must be fulfilled. In fact, whoever relaxes the law and any of its standards will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. So what then did the Pharisees who kept the law flawlessly get wrong? Were they not righteous according to the law? Did they not do all that was required of them by the holy law of God? Well, if that's the question, then the answer is yes. But their hearts were hard. They refused to hear what the word of God made flesh declared to be true. They refused to hear that a relationship with God is established by God through his grace and mercy, not by their own machinations. They refused to see that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets in all that he was and did before their very eyes, and would do before their eyes. They held to a religion of the law, not of the grace of God. They misbelieved that a relationship with God was built upon what they did for God and not what God does for them. To them, God's grace could only be doled out to those who did what they should do. This is why they believed they were righteous in God's sight. They preached, if you do what God wants you to do according to his holy code, then you will be in a state of grace with God. This is not how it works. On the contrary, Christ our Lord preached, I have come to justify you and make you right with God by my work on the cross. Only then can you do what is right before the eyes of God. The Pharisees were so close to God in his word, and yet so very far away. They knew not that the Lord required the sacrifice of their hearts, not just their hands. For salvation comes through believing that Christ is the propitiation for our sins. For you have been saved by grace through faith apart from works of the law. And this is not of your own doing. If we believe we have received God's grace because of what we do, well then you can earn your way to heaven. You're halfway there. This goes for tithing, this even goes for worship. We cannot praise or thank God enough so that he will bless us or love us more. But instead, we should be thanking God and praising him because of what he does to us and for us. What he did on the cross and even what he does for us today in this divine service, he comes to us. He washes us. He sanctifies us. He feeds us with the bread of life, which is an everlasting food. If we believe we receive God's grace here in this place, because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, then we know, we know we have the forgiveness of sins. Life and salvation. Then, as forgiven, saved, and resurrected saints, we are driven to love God and love our neighbor. But this only happens after having been justified, declared righteous before God. We love because he first loved us. We cannot love God without him loving us first, nor can we truly love our neighbor without having received the love of God in Christ Jesus. But only when you have the Son do you have the Father. And only when you have Jesus do you love God and neighbor. And only when you have Christ in him crucified do you have the forgiveness of all your sins. If you do not have Jesus for you, you cannot be righteous before God. But only when you are united to Christ, covered in Christ, fed by Christ, can you have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees? Only when you are filled with Jesus can you be the salt of the earth and the light that shines in the darkness. For what purpose is that of salt? But to bring flavor to that which has little or no taste. But when salt is added, the flavor of that food is enhanced, and it's made delicious. Or even greater still, it preserves that which must be kept for a very long time. This is Christ for you. Christ is your salt. As he is in you and you are in him, he now uses you to salt the earth. And like flavor, he brings out the best gifts that he is given, each and every one of you, to use towards his people and the people around you and the world for his purposes. So also he is the one that preserves you, just like salt, to life everlasting. But what good is salt if it loses its saltiness? What good are you to the world if you no longer have Christ? Especially in the ways he unites himself to you. If salt loses its saltiness, it's no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under feet. Or what is the purpose of light? But to illuminate what is hidden. When light is made to shine in the darkness, all those around can see and their eyes are open to what is around them. But it must be understood properly. A Christian does not emit light all by himself. All the light of a Christian has is from Christ. The light of a Christian is the light of Christ shining forth into the world, and that light is the word made flesh, given and shed for you. If a Christian has Christ, he will point everyone to where Christ Jesus delivers himself to his people. They will be like Andrew, who goes to his brother Peter and says, We have found the Christ. They will point all eyes to where Jesus speaks out loud through the preaching of his holy gospel and where he distributes his life-giving body and blood to the mouths of his saints. And why? Because Christ promises to unite himself to you, his people. Right here. Right now. But that light also bears witness in the daily life of the Christian. As Christ has loved the Christian, so then the Christian is called to love his neighbor. But most especially those who are in the body of Christ, because we who are in the body of Christ are God's true family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. Like John, St. John points out in his letter, if anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, well, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. Remember, Jesus said, By this you will know that you are my disciples. Love one another as I have loved you. Jesus is talking to his disciples and to us. So then, you who are his disciples, the beloved, baptized children of the Most High, come and receive your Lord Jesus when and where he comes to you. Then point others to where heaven descends upon earth for his people. Because when you have been united to Christ and are covered in Christ and fed by Christ, your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees. You will be like a light set on a hill for all to see. You will be like the salt of the earth, salting people with your very own flavor, which is Christ crucified. And by this you are his witnesses to the world around you, according to what the Lord has done for you. He has atoned for your sins and made you righteous in his very sight. He has forgiven you all your sins this very day, in your hearing, and has delivered you from everlasting condemnation to eternal salvation. He has given you eternal life with him and has promised never to leave you, even to the very end of the age. He is your light and your salvation, and he comes here for you right here and right now. And having received him, you will desire to love God and love your neighbor as Christ has loved you. Amen.