17"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For 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.
Jesus preached that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and that people should repent. The multitude came to Him and hungered for what He had to say. Seeing the burdens they all carried, He knew there were important things to teach them. He started by telling them the blessings they all already had. Next, He had to do something about the Law that the Pharisees and Scribes were teaching that were making it such a burden that no one could follow it.
It is interesting when you really considered the words Jesus used here. You would think He would have come to either remove the Law or enforce the Law. But He did neither. Every detail of the Law will remain till all is fulfilled. But He came to fulfill the Law for us. Just as He has shown that He has already fulfilled many of the prophesies, He will also fulfill the Law.
So if the Law is fulfilled for us, does that mean the Law goes away? No, we are still not to break even the least of the commandments. So what does it mean that the Law is fulfilled? The one thing that comes to my mind is the Law that the punishment of sin is death. This is a Law that must be fulfilled. Jesus died for every one of us, for our sins. He took the punishment of death so we could live. The Law is fulfilled. But we must take care to follow the commandments as well as we can. For how well we follow the commandments, and especially how we influence others, determines how we will be viewed in the kingdom of heaven.
I find it interesting that I see so much emphasis on how much we influence others. Here it talks about the impact of breaking a commandment and teaching others to do so, or following the commandments and teaching others to do so. In the previous verses Jesus talks about letting your light so shine that others may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Even when He called his disciples, it was to make them fishers of men. Always the consideration of our influence on others. Our righteousness is not just what we do for ourselves, but also the impact we have on others' lives.
Our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and Scribes. We do that by following the commandments and by teaching others to do so. But we also do that by what Jesus has already done for us. He fulfilled the Law for us so we can be righteous enough to enter heaven. No one is righteous enough on their own.