Matthew 5:21-26
Murder
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Jesus turns our world upside down...We know in Exodus 20:13, when God gave us the Ten Commandments, we shall not murder...But Jesus teaching goes beyond this and many ideas in the Old Testament Scripture...Of all the Ten Commandments, this was the most promising for me...I felt sure, that even though I am a sinner, this commandment I had obeyed...I certainly had not murdered anyone...The other nine, I am sure I have not lived up to God's expectations, when I am really brought to judgment...What a wretched man I am...One out of ten, that is batting .100 in baseball...That is not very good... That is terrible in baseball, and terrible in life...But, at least, I had gotten one right...Or have I???...
Jesus teaches that it is NOT ENOUGH to obey the command thou shalt not murder...Jesus now tells me, that anyone who is angry at his brother, will be subject to judgment...I may not have gotten any of the commandments straight when Jesus adds this addendum to the sixth commandment...My batting average drops to zero...
God is perfect...He is pure love and pure light...Jesus knows the Father...He further interprets the Scripture, because He is our Scripture...He tells us about how our thinking and thoughts can be a sin...A look at a woman lustfully is committing adultery Matthew 5:28)...His fuller interpretation of "Thou shall not murder", lets us know a lot about our Father and how perfect He is...It also give us more insight on how imperfect we are...St. Paul is right when he says, "what a wretched man I am"...
Jesus teaches us even further about our wicked ways...He condemns us for insults and calling people fools...We have came from murder now to insulting our brothers, and we see He views all this as wrong and a sin...You see God created all of us equally, white, black, red, yellow, rich, poor, tall or short...We are His children...How we treat others affects our relationship with Him... Jesus reminds us that our being close to the Father, is definitely impacted on how courteous, how we treat, and our ability to forgive others...
Jesus gives us hope...He tells us that when we get angry (whether it be our wife, our parents, our children, our brothers or sisters, friends, down to our enemies and adversaries) settle matters quickly...Forgive them...Then ask God for forgiveness...In His time He even says leave a gift offering on the altar for as you have forgave your brother, God now has forgiven you...
Jesus shows us as we really are...He presents our hearts, our motivations, and our thoughts to us...We really know who we are, when we see His glory...The picture is not pretty for the sinful man...But as we forgive our brother, and our adversary quickly, we know the Father will forgive us...Jesus teaches us this hope...Let us forgive and forgive quickly, so we are not thrown in the prison of the darkness and are ask to pay every second and every penny we have to get out...
So pray to the Father when you are angry that He gives you the ability to forgive...Know that He knows what is in our hearts and will judge us from that...He alone knows what is in each of our hearts...He only knows if we are acting courteous to advance ourselves in our groups or society or if our hearts are courteous and forgiving...
Remember God is perfect...We shouldn't want it any other way...When we think about it, we would not want God to be any other way...From His point of view, perfect love would never murder or insult...But we are not perfect...So God, who is full of grace, gave us His Son to forgive us of these (and our other) sins...The Son is our hope...He forgives us, so let us forgive others quickly...