Jesus once said to his disciples (Matt. 5:20), "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Since the teachings of Jesus were not meant for his day only, but for all time, we would do well to ponder the meaning of this admonition.
As influential leaders of that period, the scribes and the Pharisees founded their sense of righteousness upon a strict interpretation of Mosaic law as handed down to them by generations of ritual, with the emphasis upon the form and the letter of the law, rather than upon its original moral purpose to uplift and heal the race. A personal sense of their own importance as upholders and interpreters of Judaic codes and ceremonies blinded them to the Christ, which Jesus exemplified, causing them to oppose and resist and, finally, to try to destroy the very Saviour whose coming their patriarchs and prophets had foretold.
According to the Master, the false sense of righteousness "shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy has given us a definition of "kingdom of heaven." It reads (p.590): "The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme." In order to enter into this kingdom, or realm of Mind, it is clear that we must remove all self-righteousness from thought. Self-righteousness would attempt to operate in accord with a law which demands "an eye for an eye." It is this mistaken sense of righteousness which each one must destroy if he would enter into his rightful habitation.
