Pickings

"You've heard it said to old-time people," Matthew 5:21.

What did Jesus say we had heard? These things: Don't murder. Don't do adultery. Don't divorce without legal release. Don't swear to God. (And more.) Clearly, a righteous person pays attention to these things. But Jesus says it takes a lot more rightness to make righteous than those easy pickings. For example: Don't get angry, but make things right right now. Don't look at a woman despoiling her, because that's adultery. Don't divorce, because you become the cause of her adultery. Don't make any oath, if you say Yes, then Yes it is, if you say No, then No it is. Anything less comes from the evil one. Anything less makes no one righteous. (Wow. Being right is tough.)

We visit humbly with a brother or sister today remembering something else we heard: Christ is our righteousness. And, together, we give thanks to God who takes Jesus' complete righteousness and covers us with it.