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.
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.
There are passages that I like to quickly gloss over and believe they don’t really apply to me. I like the one “don’t commit murder”. I heartily agree that if someone commits murder that they be subject to the full judgment of the law. In extreme cases, I’m almost an eye for eye kind of guy. With full confidence, without even a twinge of guilt, I can say to you I have never knowingly or unknowingly committed a murder. Unless of course you are a member of Peta -then I’m in very serious trouble. However, for the benefit of this conversation we’ll stick to the ‘human person to human person’ variety of murder. But please keep in mind as well, it is only Monday.
If we could end this conversation here, I can feel quite good about my ‘goodness’. However, there’s more. Jesus yanks a perfectly good scripture (Thou shalt not commit murder) out of context and twists it around to suit His purpose. He claims that if I’m just angry with someone that it is the same as if I had committed a murder. That would be just fine if people weren’t such idiots! We throw these words around so quickly: idiot, fool, jerk, _____, ______ (your word(s) of choice) with barely a second thought for the ‘well desired’ target. But, the tables are turned according to Jesus – it’s not the object of my anger that in danger of judgment – it is me!
We’re going to look further into these verses over the next few days as we continue with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. So, hang tough and let’s let Him speak into our hearts.
Anyway, I was just thinking,
Neil
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