When Jesus said this, the people must have been very confused because the scribes and the Pharisees were the leaders in the ways of faith and were held up as examples of the type of behavior they should follow.
Here Jesus is saying that their behavior needs to be more righteous. We know that the commandments can be taken literally, or that they need to be looked at more closely.
Jesus goes on to say that holding onto unjustified anger is sinful. Not only is adultery a sin but so is lustful thinking. This goes way beyond a literal reading of the commandments.
When I think of some of the magazines that are popular today, I wonder if those who contribute to them and publish them think of the gossip they contain and how many reputations are being destroyed.
Even if some of what they print is true, do we really need to know the intimate details of a person's life? Just think how you and I might feel if all the private moments of our lives were on display for everyone to see! And we encourage this by spending money on these publications!
Truth is important. I was speaking with someone the other day that came out of church to find that someone had hit her car in the church parking lot without leaving any note of apology. I wonder how they justified that behavior!
Yes, sometimes we may be unaware of causing damage to another person's property, but when we are aware, we need to rectify it.
I came home one day to find that someone had driven into my porch, cracking the stairs and causing a significant amount of damage. Again, no note of who had caused the damage. Vandalism is not listed in one of the commandments but is certainly not acceptable behavior!
If we take a really good look at the commandments, we see that following Jesus' law of love will give us the guidance we need in order to know if we are truly keeping them. We, too, need to be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees.
