Becky was four years old, a ‘student’ in Junior Church. I was responsible for that program at the time. One Sunday our topic was sin. Four-year-olds have no problem understanding what it means, but Becky surprised me. I told these little ones that the Bible says, “All have sinned.” She turned to me, hands on hips and her brown eyes wide with indignation, and replied, “But I’ve never murdered anyone.”
The classic answer. Sin is always worse than whatever I am guilty of, a bigger thing than all those little things I do against God. I’m not a sinner; it is those awful other people.
Becky’s response also reflected the same general attitude toward sin while Jesus was on earth. Most people thought that if they outwardly kept the commandments, they were okay, even considered righteous before God. When Jesus told them otherwise, they accused Him of trying to do away with the Law of God. He replied, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill . . . 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 5:17, 20).
Jesus taught that the Law was good, but it wasn’t enough. If Law-keeping was going to get people into heaven, they had to live even better than the Law. Matthew 5:21-22 says, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ (meaning ‘Empty Head) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
At age four, little Becky didn’t realize that in the eyes of God, getting mad at her little brother (she had one), and calling him a dummy or a fool was as serious as murder, for these thoughts are the roots of murder. Killing someone is not merely an outward action; it begins with an attitude of the heart, and those attitudes reveal that all are sinners.
Jesus came to change hearts, not to do away with or reinforce the rules. The Law had a purpose (to show us we cannot be righteous on our own). It was never intended as a measurement of how good we are, but a “school master” to bring us to our knees before God, pleading for mercy. Jesus didn’t do away with Law; He revealed the deeper point of it.
I don’t remember what I told Becky way back then, but the Holy Spirit must have been working on her heart. He must have shown her that sin was not about what she didn’t do, but what she did do. He also must have guided her to her knees, for many years later I received an email from her. She, and her brother, are now followers of Jesus Christ.
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