To obey rules is not enough

Religion based on keeping rules is dead religion. The religious Jews had 613 rules that they tried to obey in order to be pleasing to God! Of course, they failed every day. So Jesus chooses just three obvious commands from God in the Old Testament. Three very serious ones. Murder is forbidden. Adultery is forbidden. Divorce is forbidden.

There would have been plenty of his hearers who were proud that they had done none of these things. But Jesus considers the detail: just keeping rules is not enough. He explains the true meaning of God’s commands.

What about the bitter hatred which is often the reason for murder? What about the variety of sexual and lustful thoughts which people allow themselves, though they have never actually committed adultery? What about the merciless divorce from a wife for the smallest reason, which was common in those days?

You see, God looks not on the outer appearance but on our hearts. We may appear very respectable to others, but our hearts and minds are often like a place for garbage. And it is this internal corruption that Jesus came to deal with. That’s why we call him Saviour.