Matthew 5.21-26.
5.21
The following previously appeared on my religion blog, More Christ.
As I mentioned previously, Jesus stated in the Sermon on the Mount He came to fulfill the Law, not cancel it. (v17) He then proceeded to give His interpretation of certain parts of the Law.
I know; the New Living Translation turned this into three paragraphs, so this looks like three different teachings. It’s actually not. These are all connected ideas, which all stem from Jesus’s quote: one of the Ten Commandments, “Don’t murder.” (Ex 20.13, Dt 5.17) which Jesus gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. The “If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment” part isn’t a direct quote of the bible; Leviticus reads, “Anyone who takes another person’s life must be put to death.” (24.17) But you see, under the Romans, the Jews weren’t allowed to put anyone to death. (Jn 18.31) All they were allowed to do was judge the murderer, then hand him off to the Roman authorities for execution. So Jesus was actually quoting a ruling of the Pharisees, not the bible—although it appears in this instance He was okay with their alteration.
I bring up the Romans because they’re sort of the context for this entire teaching. Most of the time this teaching is interpreted this way: Hating your neighbor is just as bad as murder. When you hate someone enough—when you’ve sorta killed that person in your mind, and sorta shown evidence of it by calling them rude names and cursing them, it’s just as bad as murder. (And then the other bits are separately interpreted: Make things right with other people before you worship God, and make things right with other people before you really get in trouble.) But you see, since all sins violate the Law, every sin is as bad as murder. (Jm 2.10-11) And in any event Jesus doesn’t actually say that.
Frequently this teaching is treated as if it’s hyperbole: Jesus is exaggerating when He says, “If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court.” (v22) Who’s gonna take you to court for calling them an idiot? Is that even a prosecutable offense? What about when they are an idiot? Seriously: Jesus has to be stretching reality a bit in order to make a bigger point.
But He’s actually not.
You see, none of this is really about being prosecuted for calling someone an idiot, or being thrown into debtor’s prison (which we don’t even have anymore) for owing our neighbors money. This is about how, if our neighbors are offended or annoyed with us—because, intentionally or not, we’ve done something to bother then—they can, if they want, make trouble for us. And the worst kind of trouble, in both Jesus’s day and ours, is legal trouble.
“If you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!” (v22) The assumption—which is completely reasonable—is that our anger is going to get us into trouble. We’re gonna do something dumb: We’re going to yell at people, or be insulting or sarcastic or embarrassing; we’re going to take revenge in some way. We’re going to snub them or snipe at them or do something hurtful. We’ll pick a fight. We turn into bitter, spiteful, irritating people.
You’ve seen the type: They’re constantly complaining about how they’ve been deprived of things they feel they rightfully deserve. Might be respect, or service, or money, or things in general aren’t as they like them, and they’ll let everyone know it. And in some cases they’ll demand their way—angrily and unsympathetically—and alienate everyone in the process. They might actually have a legitimate case: they might have been shortchanged, or received an inferior product, or were treated rudely. But they way they pursue fairness and restitution, is what makes them hated right back.
And while we Christians might take our revenge only so far before our consciences finally rein us back in, you simply never know how far others may take their revenge. Our pursuit of our rights may just trod on the toes of someone who wouldn’t mind destroying us, just for fun.
So this teaching isn’t just about getting rid of our own anger; it’s about getting rid of everyone’s anger.
In the bible, you notice sins against others tend to be compared with debts. Most debts nowadays are owed to faceless financial institutions, and the worst they can do to you is repossess property and garnish wages. But debts in Jesus’s day were to individuals, who weren’t faceless, and the worst they could do to you was sell you as slaves to get their money back. Debt was a much bigger deal back then. You never wanted to get on the bad side of people you owed, because of what they could do to you.
Sins and offenses against others are much the same way. You never know what people might do to you—especially if they feel justified in doing it to you. As they will.
Sacrifices, contrary to popular belief, weren’t about burning up animals for God. Certain serious sacrifices involved burning the entire animal. Most of them, however, were only about burning parts of the animal. The other parts—namely, the eatable parts—were shared between the priests and the person offering the sacrifice. It was a lot more like a barbecue than a solemn ritual. The closest thing we Christians have to it would be the church potluck. But before people forget their troubles and chow down, Jesus wants us to stop, find anyone who might have a problem with us, and work things out before we eat. He would rather we kill grudges than goats.
So examine your life. Is there anyone you hold a grudge against? Forgive them immediately. Is there anyone who might hold a grudge against you? Track them down and make it right. Apologize if you have to. Pay them back if you need to. Restore that relationship… before it becomes something destructive and wasting, and even gets in the way of your growth as a Christian.
Mt 5.21: Ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐρρέθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις· you all heard that it was said to the old, οὐ φονεύσεις· ὃς δ᾿ ἂν φονεύσῃ, ἔνοχος ἔσται τῇ κρίσει. not you will murder; & whoever might murder, guilty will be to decision. 5.22: ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὀργιζόμενος τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ & I tell you all that every [one who is] the angry with the brother of him, ἔνοχος ἔσται τῇ κρίσει· guilty will be to decision. ὃς δ᾿ ἂν εἴπῃ τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ· ῥακά, & whoever might say to the brother of him, Raka, ἔνοχος ἔσται τῷ συνεδρίῳ· guilty will be to Sanhedrin, ὃς δ᾿ ἂν εἴπῃ· μωρέ, & whoever might say, Moron, ἔνοχος ἔσται εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός. guilty will be in the Ge’enna of fire. 5.23: ἐὰν οὖν προσφέρῃς τὸ δῶρόν σου ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον when therefore you might bring the gift of you to the altar κἀκεῖ μνησθῇς ὅτι ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἔχει τι κατὰ σοῦ, and also you might remember that the brother of you has anything against you, 5.24: ἄφες ἐκεῖ τὸ δῶρόν σου ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου you put down! the gift of you in front of the altar καὶ ὕπαγε πρῶτον διαλλάγηθι τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, and you go away! first, you make a trade! [with] the brother of you, καὶ τότε ἐλθὼν πρόσφερε τὸ δῶρόν σου. and then, having come, you bring! the gift of you. 5.25: ἴσθι εὐνοῶν τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ σου ταχύ, you be! one being agreeable to the opponent of you quickly, ἕως ὅτου εἶ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, as far as whoever, if with you in the way, μήποτέ σε παραδῷ ὁ ἀντίδικος τῷ κριτῇ whether you he may turn in, the enemy, to the judge καὶ ὁ κριτὴς τῷ ὑπηρέτῃ καὶ εἰς φυλακὴν βληθήσῃ· and the judge, to the assistant, and to the prison you will be thrown. 5.26: ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθῃς ἐκεῖθεν, Amen I tell you, not-never you will come out from there, ἕως ἂν ἀποδῷς τὸν ἔσχατον κοδράντην. as far as ever you may give back the last copper.
