"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny."- Matthew 5:21–26
We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7). In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught the disciples, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did
not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till
heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass
from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the
least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least
in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not
murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I
say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!'
shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall
be in danger of hell fire." My study Bible tells us that this repeated formula in Christ's Sermon on the Mount but I say to you is a statement of total, divine authority (Matthew 7:29). Christ is the Creator of humankind and also Author of the Law; as the Lord He can speak with this authority. While there is anger which is not sinful (Psalm 4:4; Mark 3:5), here Jesus is forbidding sinful anger, and He identifies it with murder. The council is the supreme legal body among the Jews. Hell is in Greek γέενναν/Gehenna. In Jewish history, my study Bible explains, Gehenna was the Valley of Hinnom. It became a place of forbidden religious practices (2 Chronicles 28:3; Jeremiah 32:35). King Josiah put an end to these practices (2 Kings 23:10). By Christ's time, the valley had become a garbage dump that smoldered endlessly. Because of these associations, Gehenna acquired the connotation of eternal punishment in the afterlife. Hell is the final condition of sinners who resist God's grace.
"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that
your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the
altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then
come and offer your gift." Peace with other believers, my study Bible says, is a requirement for worship (Mark 11:25). The liturgical "kiss of peace" at the beginning of the eucharistic prayer is a sign of reconciliation and forgiveness, a preparation of the faithful to offer the holy gifts at the altar (1 Corinthians 16:20; 1 Peter 5:14). See also Jesus' formula for mutual correction in the Church, in Matthew 18:15-20.
"Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him,
lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to
the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you,
you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last
penny." My study Bible points out that St. Luke places this teaching in the context of the end of the age (Luke 12:57-59). Here Jesus teaches it in the context of reconciliation surrounding the Liturgy. Delay in reconciliation allows for the spread of animosity and other evils (Ephesians 4:26).
Forgiveness and reconciliation are important concepts in the Church, and it's important to note that these are two different words for two different things. While we are all commanded to forgive, it's not always possible to reconcile. For example, this is true of an abusive or harmful situation, in which two parties may conflict to the extent that harm is created, or abuse is tolerated. But forgiveness is the "giving up" of sin in the same sense that a debt can be forgiven, as we'll read in the following chapter of this sermon (Matthew 6:12). We do this in the context of prayer before our Father in heaven. As shown in Jesus' teaching on mutual correction (Matthew 18:15-20), reconciliation calls for steps beyond forgiveness. In today's reading, Jesus seems to teach us the importance of guarding against offenses, and also the reparation for offenses. We read in the Gospels examples of such reparation and reconciliation, for example, in the story of Zacchaeus the chief tax collector (Luke 19:1-10). In the story of Zacchaeus, it must be understood that tax collectors were despised within the Jewish society, for they were fellow Jews who worked for the Romans, routinely taking more than was necessary for paying tax and using the power of the Roman state to practice extortion for their own benefit. In Zacchaeus' case, when Jesus comes to Jericho where he lives, and calls upon him, Zacchaeus states, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." Of this reconciliation, a reconstitution of community, Jesus says, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." But nonetheless, we can always practice forgiveness, the "giving up" or "letting go" (as the word literally means in the Greek), as Jesus teaches us as part of the Lord's Prayer, or the Our Father. Here in today's passage, Jesus places the emphasis on the aggressive act of anger which is unjustified, and provokes unnecessarily through insult or injury of some kind. Raca is an insult implying a person is empty-headed; "you fool" is the translation of an insult implying mental deficiency, undevelopment, lack of intelligence. In Greek, it is μωρος/moros, from which we derive the English word moron. In modern Greek, this word is used to literally refer to an infant. One imagines that such demeaning insults mean something additionally significant within a social or public context. Christ's comments just prior to the ones in today's reading spoke of the Law and the Prophets, and Himself as fulfillment. If we think about the Law given by the Lord to Moses, we understand the important community emphasis on those laws; they weren't simply made in order to teach individuals what to do and how to act within an individual context. The Law was made to create a community of God's people, and the prayers and practices of the Temple were designed to ameliorate the effects of sin in community. The blood of sacrifice that was to be sprinkled upon the altar was for purification (not payment) -- and this is another prefiguring of Christ and His Blood shed for us. Therefore we see this particular sin of anger without cause, and the casting of insults upon others within community, as akin to murder. It destroys relationships and relatedness, and we are to understand righteousness as right-relatedness. In today's reading, Jesus begins to explain to us why and how we are to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Christ's gospel is part of the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, but it extends beyond a legalistic scrupulosity of simply following the rules. Instead, we're to begin to come to terms with the inward passions that drive harmful actions, and of course this will correspond to the action of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, which would come to us as a gift of Christ's fulfillment of His mission (John 16:7-11), and as part of Christian Holy Baptism. Within the context of community also comes the need for reconciliation and forgiveness. But this is done within a community meant to be "the people of God." The remedy for sin is holiness, not payment. This is where Christ is leading us, and what the Incarnation as salvific remedy for the world is all about. The fire of hell is the same purifying fire that is the Holy Spirit, and our experience of that depends upon our orientation to where He leads, our acceptance of the repentance to which we're called.