Welcome back to Ordinary Time!! After the fasting of Advent and the feasting of Christmastide, we are ready for the first season of Ordinary Time. For the next 8 weeks, we will look at some of the teachings of Jesus, with a focus on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and the Sermon on the Plains (Luke 6 verses that parallel Matthew 5-7).
In Matthew 5:21-24, Jesus reminded his audience of the law of "do not murder" and that murderers "will be subject to judgment", but then He goes beyond that to tell us that those who are angry with someone "will be subject to judgment". That is the same punishment for murder and for anger towards someone. Yet He goes even further! If we refer to someone with contempt, we will be "answerable to the court" and if we call someone a fool, we will risk "the fire of hell". So if we are about to "offer our gift at the altar" and remember that someone is mad at US, we should stop what we're doing and be reconciled with them first.
Most of us are good at not murdering other people, but anger is much harder to shake. Yet Jesus equates anger as being at the same punishment level as murder!! We may not be cussing people out in anger, but there are people we are angry with, because of things that they said (or failed to say) or did (or failed to do). There are trigger words and trigger situations that make us grit our teeth and scowl. James 1:20 reminds us that "human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires". When we notice our anger rising, we need to stop, confess, and repent, because anger is a big deal.
We may not use the word "Raca" as a term of contempt, we have plenty of ways in English to refer to someone contemptuously. When we refer to someone by a term of contempt, or as a way of mocking a group to our "superior" group, we are dehumanizing them. Now, every insult may not be punishable in our human courts, but Jesus told us in Matthew 12:36, that we will have to answer "for every empty word [we] have spoken" on the judgment day. Furthermore, our word choice is putting us at risk of being thrown into the fires of hell. Is an insult to a person worth our eternal souls?
Now, we do not offer gifts or sacrifices at the altar in our churches, but before we approach God, if the Holy Spirit reminds us that SOMEONE ELSE is mad at US, we should try to reconcile, to mend what's broken between us, before we worship God. It's fascinating that Jesus wanted us to reconcile with those who have a bone to pick with us. He didn't tell us that we should reconcile if we have a grudge against someone else. Perhaps because He already told us not to be angry and not to refer to people with contemptuous phrases. Yet, if WE have offended someone else, WE should apologize, make amends, and reconcile with them. We need to take ownership for how our words can hurt, even if we didn't mean for them to. We need to be able to apologize and change our speech patterns when we have caused pain to other people.
There's a lot to unpack in these 4 verses. Take time this week to ask the Holy Spirit to show you ways you are angry with other people, ways you refer to others contemptuously, and people you need to reconcile with.
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