The kingdom of the righteous

"Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 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: 19-20 (NIV)

It's nearly a year since I last wrote about the kingdom references in the gospels - although I hope that most of my intervening posts have been kingdom-focused too. I left off my search in Matthew 5, looking at the beattitudes. The next reference is perhaps even harder to grapple with.

What exactly is righteousness and how can we surpass the Pharisees? Clearly from the way that Jesus berates them, it has nothing to do with creating long lists of the things that God requires and imposing them on ourselves and others. According to the dictionary to be righteous is to be "morally upright, without guilt or sin". Like most of the Sermon on the Mount this seems like an unattainably high standard. Fortunately Paul's words in Romans bring some comfort here.

"[Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Romans 4:20-24

Romans does not absolve us of the responsibility to live righteous lives, but it does indicate that there is hope when we inevitably fall short.

Kingdom of Heaven

"I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of God. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What God desires is here [points to head] and here [points to heart] and what you decide to do every day. You will be a good man - or not." The Hospitaller (Kingdom of Heaven)

The other night I watched Ridley Scott's epic, Kingdom of Heaven. It is an interesting and thought-provoking take on the Crusades. Much has been said of it's historical and theological inaccuracies in other reviews - but they're not something I plan to get bogged down with. As a film it's primary aim is to entertain, to tell a good yarn - not to present truth. What intrigued me was the way an agnostic film-maker takes kingdom language and places it in the mouth of an anachronistically agnostic hero without apparently realising he is doing so. He also fails to spot the contradiction in depicting faith as being the despicable cause of violence whilst creating a film which presents violence as entertainment.

Despite this the script-writer manages to slip in some truly Christian principles. The character of the Hospitaller is perhaps the most interesting, he being the only non-agnostic character whose faith consists of more than using the name of Christ to justify his wrong actions. But perhaps this is not a bad lesson. Much damage has been done to the kingdom by those who use the name of Christ but do not follow his teachings. As Gandhi says "I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."

I enjoyed the film. It definitely made me think - but it seems a long way from the kingdom that Christ was speaking of.

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.

Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
John 18: 36-37

Create in me a pure heart, O God

"Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart " Psalm 24: 3-4

The sixth beatitude contains a lovely promise. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God". Something to greatly desire. Yet the route to the promise is not an easy one. To see God we must be pure in heart.

In the opening chapter of Finding Sanctuary Christopher Jamieson talks about the doorway to our personal sanctuary as being virtue. Interestingly he defines virtue primarily in terms of our relationships with others, saying: "The basic starting point for entering sanctuary is the quality of your day-to-day dealings with other people". Our dealings with those around us demonstrate the grain of hearts.

It seems to me that the outward demonstration has to be driven by an inner change, and the inner change is not something we can effect in our own strength. In C S Lewis' book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Eustace - who starts off as a nasty piece of work - places a bracelet on his arm and wakes to find himself changed into a dragon. The bracelet which fitted his arm as a boy, is too small for his dragon limbs and is very painful. To ease the pain he wishes to bathe in a pool - but Alsan tells him first he must undress. He makes several attempts to peel off a layer of skin - but all are inadequate. Finally Aslan offers to do it for him.

The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought he had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I have ever felt. [...] Well, he peeled the beastly stuff off - just as I thought I'd done the other three times only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and as soft as a peeled switch. [...] As soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again.

Eustace's experience reflects my own. My efforts are feeble. My resolutions get broken before the ink is even dry. I need God's help for this. My prayer is the prayer of David from psalm 51: "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."

Holiness

It is interesting to note how Jesus begins his transformation. Matthew's gospel shows Jesus undertaking two concrete actions before commencing his public ministry. The first is a symbolic act, baptism.

New Testament Christians associate baptism with Jesus' death and resurrection - symbolising death to sin and new life. John, however, did not have the benefit of Paul's letter to the Romans. For the Jew it is likely that baptism would have been seen as a purification ritual. Such rituals were performed to cleanse people or objects. To make them fit for worship. The old testament outlines many such rituals for making things pure. For setting things apart, or making them holy.

It seems to me that the concept of holiness has become devalued. We think now of holiness as being an aloof perfection. Holy people are not comfortable to be with because they will judge us and look down on our failings. Yet Jesus is the ultimate in holiness, and for the most part he seems to have been a very approachable person. People were fascinated by him. 2,000 years have gone by and people are still captivated by him.

This throws down a challenge to me. In repenting; in realigning my life towards the kingdom of God; in being transformed I should be becoming more approachable. More open to those around me. More visibly Christ-like. It is a high standard to attain.

Fortunately we are not expected to attain it unaided. The baptism of John was symbolic. John says of it "I baptise you with water for repentance, but he will baptise you with the holy spirit." The baptism of today should be more than symbolic. Baptism in water is external. It cannot actually change our hearts and attitudes. The baptism of the spirit is internal. The spirit wells up inside and powers the transformation. But this will happen only if I let it, and all too often I don't.