Jesus Raised The Bar To Impossible

The Sermon on the Mount almost blew the audience out of the... well, off the mount. It was profound and engaging, but probably the worst news some of the people had ever heard.

Sure, all the verses with “blessed” in them sounded pretty good. But when Jesus said (Matthew 5:20) “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” That's when the jaws dropped.

Modern translation: “Unless you become more holy than your favorite priest or pastor, there is no chance of you getting to heaven.”

And then Jesus decided to rub it in a little more (vs. 48) when he says, “Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus keeps raising the bar throughout the sermon: First, he tells us that we can be blessed by living a Kingdom-centered life (Our response: I can try hard to do that). Then, he tells us that we can be blessed if we become more holy than the holiest pastors in our lives (Our response: That seems impossible). Finally, he tells us we can be blessed if we are absolutely perfect like God Himself (Our response: That is impossible).

I know its good for us to raise the bar every now and then, but it seems like Jesus is taking the bar and beating us with it! What's going on?

Well, like all good mystery novels, Jesus inserts a clue earlier on the sermon. He says (vs. 17), “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.” In other words, Jesus is saying that He didn't come to bring a new teaching or start something new – but to perfectly obey all the laws and to fulfill all the prophesies that had been around since the beginning.

Simply, Jesus was telling them: “I'm here to live the life that you should be living, but can't.” And we know that Jesus also went on to fulfill the prophesies by dying the death we should have died.

Jesus raised the bar to impossible, but instead of condemning us for not being able to jump over it, he was condemned (even though he was perfect) for our sake on the cross and therefore transfers his victory to us. In addition, he has given us the ability now to work towards the bar of perfection through the power of the Holy Spirit.