By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
We’ve come to the portion of Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus begins to show most clearly how he and the Father expect us to live and it gets quite irritating.
Thou shalt not murder is one thing but thou shall not get angry is a whole nother matter altogether. Matt 5:21-22 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca’, is answerable to the court.
And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Let’s unpack this as the saying goes. Here is where Jesus begins to reveal his true authority.
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago” was talking about how the Priests and Scribes have interpreted the 6th commandment from the time of Moses forward.
“But I tell you” are the 4 words that change everything! Christ is clearly stating that he is more important than Moses or the Law.
That his interpretation is the only one now acceptable and it overrides all other interpretations! Can you see why he was always in hot water with the Jewish leadership?
Jesus is looking at the 6th Commandment from Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder.” God values human life highly, and He expects us to value it as well.
But the Jewish teachers had taught that nothing except actual murder was forbidden by the sixth commandment. Thus they ignored any spiritual meaning (as would most of us given the chance). However, Christ showed the fuller meaning of this commandment.
He took it from physical action to the desire of the heart (mind/will) which as we know is where the orders to action come from. All rash anger is now equivalent to the sin of murder.
The Jews understood the 6th Commandment as meaning no more than wilfully physically taking a life. This comment of our Saviour shows that it was spiritual more so than physical.
This commandment was designed and intended by God to extend to the thoughts and feelings as well as the external act. What did Jesus mean when he said “that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”? What or who’s “Judgment”?
Christ was referring to a court in each city that dealt with most matters and was led by generally 7 members. Think of it as our Municipal and Common Pleas Courts combined.
They could impose any sentence up to and including death. Although, their rulings were subject to the Sanhedrin for review if appealed.
Jesus was instructing us that we are not to be angry with any person but only with the sin involved. Calling a man “raca” or a silly, lightweight fool or calling a man a “fool” which comes from the noun, ‘ee•ve•let,’ and means stupid, foolish, and nothing beyond that (empty-headed) is a scornful word coming from our pride and hatred and both would certainly be traversing this command.
Momentary anger wasn’t the intent here but anger that motivated one to defame another’s character or reputation was now to be considered murder and subject to punishment from being called in front of the Sanhedrin for possible stoning or to being burned in Hell or more correctly, Gehenna, which meant the trash dump outside Jerusalem where the worshippers of Molech offered babies as sacrifices. In other words, an unholy, godless place of long suffering and destruction.
We shouldn’t for any cause be angry at the person of the sinner, but at his sin. We should carefully pursue Christian love and peace with all our brothers and sisters; and if at any time there is a quarrel, we should confess our fault, humble ourselves to our brother or sister, and do our best to make the situation right as best we can and as soon as possible.
Delays build up distance between us and God and cool our relationship with him. Delays also harm our relationships with others.
Verse 25 goes on to tell us to “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.”
In other words, there are consequences to not handling matters quickly and personally. The longer we take to make things right, the worse the situation becomes and the more costly is the settling of the affair.
We all know this by experience. The longer we allow someone we’ve hurt to experience that pain, the deeper the hurt becomes. If I apologize when I make a mistake immediately, it is generally allowed to die without much cost to me.
But, if I hold my hard heart and refuse to make it right for a time, when I finally do, the consequences to the one I harmed are more severe and healing the relationship is that much more difficult.
“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment”, was a game changer for the hearers and for us as well. Most of the next 2 chapters will be Christ teaching us that sin is in the heart and not the actions.
Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander”. (Matthew 15:19) James words the same thought a little differently in 1:15, “Desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death”.
Bottom line, most of us are guilty of murder by God’s standards. Thank you, Jesus, for the grace that comes from your blood.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.