Polluted Righteous Toxicity

The Pharisees again. Jesus had a lot of interactions with them, didn't He? The Pharisees were the leaders of the day in Judaism. Yet they had it all wrong. The Holy Gospel reading this Sunday concluded with this verse:

St. Luke 16:15: And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Are these Pharisees or Orthodox Priests?

Jesus once again has some strong words for the religious leaders of the day.

Some people today have proposed that the Pharisees were being rebuked by Christ just for being hypocrites, not for their actual law-keeping works.

This isn't really the case, however. Jesus repeatedly rebukes them for being hypocrites, but also for following the law as the way to righteousness.

Jesus rebukes them here for being those who justify themselves before men, yet in reality, their works are an abomination before God. Sort of sounds like Isaiah, doesn't it? If you're not familiar with the verse to which I refer, here it is:

Isaiah 64:6: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. The KJV renders it 'filthy rags.' Our deeds are incapable of righteousness. Our deeds cannot justify us.

We may try to be outwardly righteous. We may appear outwardly righteous. But we aren't. Our works are an abomination because they can never conform perfectly to God's Law. We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but we never do. And we never can. We're sinners. We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. But we never do this perfectly either.

The folly of the Pharisees is that they thought this was the way to righteousness. They missed the entire point of the Law and the Prophets. The entire point of the Law and Prophets was standing right in front of them, rebuking them!

The Pharisees perceived righteousness was polluted, because the Pharisees were, just like us, sinful in thought, word, and deed. Their God was too small. And their religion was toxic. It was condeming because it failed to trust Christ, but rather tried to earn the Father's favor by doing good.

It is true, however, that we must be righteous. But is this accomplished by our law-keeping or obedience? No, it can never be. The entire point of the Law and the Prophets stood in front of the Pharisees, rebuking them. That Christ is our righteousness. You must be righteous, but only He is.

Hence, the cross, the grave, and the resurrection. For the Christ has taken our sin on Himself and risen for our justification; to declare us righteous as heirs of His Kingdom, for all who believe.

2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 3:21-26: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

It's all about Jesus from start to finish. So don't be like the Pharisees and have your own polluted righteousness and toxic false religion of working to earn something before God.

Jesus already earned everything that is necessary. He did it all alone, by Himself. And He did enough to save everyone.

Receive your Savior.