"... but their hearts are far from me..."
Jesus' standard of righteousness - beyond anything else - is a matter of the heart.
Some believe that we are judged on how we behave, especially with regard to the keeping of the Law. So they memorize it, live by it, and judge others by it. Then there comes a time when, by the interior design of their own internal impurities, they actually use the Law to justify their own wickedness. They design clever spiritual loopholes which are, in part, supported by that same Law which was originally designed to promote purity of heart.
Purity of heart, on the other hand, makes no such allowances. It cannot maneuver, it does not seek to spiritualize sin, for it cannot. A heart is... well, a heart. It is unveiled before the Lord, who sees all, knows all, and is aquatinted with the Substance of who we really are. Christ's gaze of Grace pierces through the curtain of our spiritual arrogance and makes a bulls-eye for our heart.
It is here we are judged. Not by the keeping, or forsaking, of the tradition. We are judged by the Law of Love, by our obedience to the Holy Spirit's Conviction in our most Holy Place. This raises us far above the standard of the Law.
Oddly enough, it is possible for a Law abider's heart to remain distant from God. To be hardened to the Life of the Lord - and, thereby, unable to experience the Love of God. It is not, however, possible for one with purity of heart to fake it - to hide behind a curtain of works of righteousness (though one work of righteousness from a pure heart rises higher in fruitfulness than a lifetime of righteous deeds from a heart which has grown cold). That's why the pure in heart shall see God.
A person may fall short of the tradition and even fall short of a Commandment from time to time but God's Judgment looks far beyond what is seen by others, far beyond the Standard of the Commandment, and investigates us by his own living, Standard of Holiness as revealed by the Holy Spirit.
This is where the Lord lives, in the Temple of our Heart. This is how a person is judged, in the heart, not by "being good," per se'. For it is by grace that you are saved. All works of righteousness (and there will be many from a person as such) first flow from that Sacred Relationship - they must flow from that Sacred Relationship - or they are good for nothing.
No wonder the psalmist cries, "Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
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