Jesus says: “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” We cannot argue with Jesus or soften His words in any way. If our righteousness does not exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, we have no hope of eternal life.

To properly understand Jesus’ words, it is necessary to find answers to two questions; firstly, what is the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and secondly, what kind of righteousness is required from us?

Perhaps this was the very reason why several of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen: it is a profession that requires dedication to the end. Especially when going to the open sea, a fisherman completely surrenders himself to forces immeasurably more powerful than him. This is not for everyone – just as the calling of a soldier or an apostle is not for everyone.

Saint Paul says in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, recounting his trials, among other things: “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.” The reason for “forty stripes save one” was that according to the Law of Moses it was not allowed to punish anyone with more than forty stripes, and to avoid the possibility of accidentally messing up the count, it was customary to give one less stripe just in case.

St. Peter says in today’s Epistle: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.”
The words “humble” and “humility” come from the Latin word humus, which means “earth” or “soil”. In a sense, humility is the same as “having both feet on the ground”, that is, to see things as they really are. Being humble means seeing yourself realistically, as you are, without embellishing anything, but also without fake and hypocritical self-deprecation.

Excuses, excuses, excuses... We have thousands of excuses for not being able to do one thing or another. From “the dog ate my homework” to not being there for my child’s birth or at my mother’s deathbed, because I had got tickets to the final or I was busy making money…
It’s true that we don’t always have time for everything. We can’t be in many places at once, even if we really wanted to. And it is not always possible to make good choices, so we must accept poor ones. However, it is often still just excuses, sometimes even made-up ones…