Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

In the Bible, sin and death are strictly related, and neither is native to the human being. We all sin and we all die; but we weren’t created by God either to sin or to die. Death comes not from God but from sin. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), says St Paul; and here he is echoing the prophet Ezekiel who says, because the wicked have turned away from all their transgressions, “they shall surely live; they shall not die”. There are many kinds of death, and what is meant here is more than physical. Sin may not bring physical death, but it brings a death which can be moral, spiritual, psychological or emotional.

Jesus speaks of righteousness, which is the fruit of repentance and a rejection of sin. It provides entrance to God’s kingdom, a return to Paradise. But the repentance and righteousness of which he speaks reach deep to the hidden source. They touch not just our behaviour but the attitudes, convictions and emotions from which our behaviour springs. They break the power of sin which brings death, and they confer the life which is God’s gift.