I am a Jesus pusher!!! Jesus visualized the call to live daily with exceedingly greater righteousness. His cry was, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). While He unfolds this first illustration, He reveals a natural division (Matthew 5:21-26). It is a contrast between “You have heard that it was said to those of old” and “But I say to you.” The root of this contrast is in the preceding challenge about Jesus and the Scriptures. “The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” was located in “You have heard that it was said to those of old.” No one can adequately claim to be in the Kingdom of Heaven based on this righteousness. The righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven is in the proclamation from the first man who experienced the Kingdom. His insight into the condition of righteousness is in, “But I say to you.”
As a man, Jesus experienced helplessness but was filled with the resource and person of the Holy Spirit. In this intimate embrace, God manifested His nature through Him. Although His statements expressed His perspective, they also reflected the view of God’s nature. This helpless man was filled with the mind of the Trinity. What drove the Father was driving Jesus. Jesus gave the perspective of God’s heart. The longing of the individual embracing their helplessness is for the resource of Jesus’ Spirit to supply their need. There must be no other resource but Him. I am a Jesus pusher!!!