Written this week by Alan Lindberg
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
In Genesis we read of the first murder which Cain committed against his brother Abel. God took that crime seriously, punishing Cain to wander the earth. We know that God included “You shall not murder” in the Ten Commandments. In the 35th chapter of Numbers there are judgments described for murderers, most of which prescribe that the murderer be put to death for his crime. Clearly murder was a serious crime, to be dealt with severely. Murder is an outward, physical act. It is perpetrated by one person upon another. The great majority of people do not commit this kind of sin.
22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Earlier in the chapter we see that sin is in the heart, just as righteousness is in the heart, not just apparent outwardly. Here we see that we should emulate God in our mind and attitude, not just in our actions. Jesus describes here punishments not just for physical actions, but for anger and insults. Sin always begins in the mind and heart. We sin by hating others and by assassinating their character long before we take physical action by verbally insulting them or attacking them physically. Jesus is helping the people on “the mount” and us today to understand that sin is not limited to taking evil action, it includes thinking evil thoughts. God, who is wholly good, and wholly righteous cannot condone that which is not good, including our ill thoughts about others.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Jesus is saying that because God is wholly good you cannot relate to Him while you are holding evil in your heart. By bringing your gift to the altar you are showing your love for God. God wants you to love your brother. As we saw earlier He followed the Great Commandment (to love Him) with a second commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. God created all men. Since God wants us to love both Him and each other, how can we come to Him (bringing the gift to the altar) with evil thoughts about our brother, or even knowing that our brother holds evil thoughts against us? As He says in Matthew 9:13, quoting Hosea, Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. We should be showing mercy to our “brother”, which has a much higher priority than the “sacrifice” we bring to the altar. We should work out our relationship with our brother so that love can prevail in that relationship
25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
This could be taken to refer to earthly disputes. Avoid the court system and try to resolve your disputes with another before going to court. It should be considered in the realm of eternity. We stand accused of sin by God and no matter how hard we try we are all guilty. Any sin separates us from God. If we do not reconcile with God, as we can through Jesus, we will be condemned not to be with God in heaven, (in fact to be condemned to be eternally separated from God in Hell) in this analogy be “put into prison”. The reality is that we will never get out of that situation because we can never “pay the last penny” because we cannot “undo” our sin. Therefore, through Christ, we should make sure that we are reconciled with God and that we let others know the way they can be too.
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