Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. - Mark 6: 4-6
And often we are amazed at the lack of faith in our own family members. They see the change in our lives but still have difficulty separating who they have known all these years from the new creation we become. Their darkness deepens further around us. But according to these teachings, we still are to be that light they so desperately need.
To our houses and to the world. And how are we to show this light according to the Master? Is it with strong words, strict warnings, and choice Bible verses? No beloved. Jesus taught that we show the world and our homes the light of Christ through our good deeds; not our words. Unfortunately, some in modern Christianity have it backwards. There seems to be a never-ending supply of people willing to talk the talk but the world is filled with doubting Thomas'; who want to see before they will believe. And remember, the things of God are still foolishness to them! You cannot expect to just explain Christ to them. You cannot expect to just rationalize Christ to them. You cannot expect to just intellectualize Christ to them. What Jesus is teaching us here is that we must first live Christ to them. Would you take driving lessons from someone who has been in ten accidents? Would you take dieting advice from someone who was overweight? Neither then should we expect the world to accept a message of love wrapped up in hate or judgment. The world is looking first at whom we are; not what we say.
That is why it is not surprising that the very next subject Jesus teaches on in His discourse is in regards to the law. In it He addresses that He ahs come to fulfill the law, not abolish it. The key verse for us today is:
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. Matthew 5:20
Jesus is warning us that our righteousness must pass the level of hypocrisy; which the Pharisees represented. The Pharisees were religious but not relational. They understood the letter of the law but not the spirit of it. Jesus is teaching us that this type of religiosity is false righteousness. It speaks of righteousness instead of living it and that was exactly the problem with the Pharisees. They talked the talk but did not walk the walk. If you asked the majority of the unsaved what their primary problem with Christians is the answer would likely be, hypocrisy. It is dangerous to walk that close to the Pharisaical line. It is not righteousness, it is self righteousness. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a parable of a Pharisee and a tax collector to show the difference between the way we should be and the trap we can fall into. This is how it is introduced in the Gospel:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: - Luke 18: 9
Jesus goes on to tell the parable of how the Pharisee was so self-righteous that his very prayers unto God exalted himself and how the sinner showed true humility before God because he knew he had no righteousness. That is the frame of mind we need to be walking our salvation in. Humility which comes from the realization that we have no righteousness except for the blood of Jesus Christ, which covers our sins before Almighty God! The Prophet Isaiah reminds us of the true nature of our righteousness:
