Our anger toward others exposes a heart of conflict – a heart of war toward them, if you will. That heart is the heart of a murderer, even if we don’t take it to that extent. No one will want to hear that, but anger and conflict are completely opposed to the heart of love.
21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
25 “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.
Matthew 5:21-26 NLT
Yesterday, we considered Jesus’ teaching about the Law and the prophets still being in effect (let’s clarify this is for the Jewish folks he was speaking to), and that he is the fulfillment of these voices from the past. Matthew records that right after this, Jesus discussed examples of Old Testament teachings with his ‘fulfilling’ words added.
“Do not murder” is one of the ten commandments. We can see that as Jesus addresses murder, he doesn’t say that law is outdated or no longer in effect. We can be clear, God’s command against murder is as clear in these verses as it was in Exodus 20. But… Jesus brings a new standard to the teaching.
Our anger toward others exposes a heart of conflict – a heart of war toward them, if you will. That heart is the heart of a murderer, even if we don’t take it to that extent. No one will want to hear that, but anger and conflict are opposed to the heart of love that God desires for us.
We can see consequences for having a murderous heart. We might slander a person and be at risk of being sued. Our worship of God can be interrupted or at minimum less sincere when we carry anger. And our failure to reconcile might come back to haunt us if we are holding a grudge on a matter and the verdict turns against us.
None of the examples Jesus offers position a murderous angry heart as leading to anything fruitful. Jesus takes a command of God and he weaves into it teaching on love, reconciliation, and worship. God does not want us to not do something. He wants us to purposefully interact with the world in love and relationship with him.
Amen.
Marc Kinna
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