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"

 

"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 Christ's Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "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 explains that the repeated formula but I say to you is a statement of total, divine authority by Jesus (Matthew 7:29).  As the Creator of man and Author of the Law, Christ can speak with this authority.  There is anger which is not sinful, which is linked to grief and motivated by compassion (see Psalm 4:4; Mark 3:5).  But here what Jesus is forbidding is sinful anger, which He identifies with murder.  The council is the Sanhedrin, the supreme legal body among the Jews (and here is evocative of the heavenly council of God).  Hell is Γέεννα/Gehenna in the Greek, the final condition of sinners who resist the grace of God.  Raca is apparently an insult of Aramaic derivation used commonly in the time of Christ, meaning "empty-headed."  The word used here for fool is μωρός/moros, from which is derived the word "moron" in modern English; and in modern Greek is used to mean "baby" or "infant," thus linked to underdevelopment in terms of education or the mind.

"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."  My study Bible says that peace with other believers is a requirement for worship (Mark 11:25).  The liturgical "kiss of peace" at the beginning of the eucharistic prayer in the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is a sign of reconciliation and forgiveness; it prepares the faithful to offer the holy gifts at the altar (in the Eucharist, these are the gifts of the sacrifice of Christ, His Body and Blood).  See also 1 Corinthians 16:20; 1 Peter 5:14.

 

"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 notes that Luke places this teaching in the context of the end of the age (Luke 12:57-59); but here it is given in the context of reconciliation surrounding the Liturgy.  It says that delay in reconciliation allows for the spread of animosity and other evils (Ephesians 4:26-27).  

 

Why is peace important?  Why does Jesus place this essential teaching on the importance of peace and reconciliation within the context of His discussion of anger or rage, insulting words, and linking these to murder?  At the heart of this teaching is the understanding of righteousness.  Some say that righteousness really means "right relatedness."  When Jesus is asked (by a lawyer) what is the greatest commandment in the Law, He replies, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:36-40).   As we can see from these two He gave as essential to understanding the fullness of the Law and the Prophets, they are all about relatedness, "right relatedness."  That is, the relationship first of love for God, and this foundation extending to our relationships to one another.  Into this basic framework we might consider what unjustified anger does, the implacability of someone who has decided that malicious behavior is appropriate, a kind of hatred that has nothing to do with the moral quality of what might have provoked it in the first place, nor at any point involves a reconsideration of what is appropriate or beneficial, especially within community.  Jesus equates this sort of hatred, and the venomous behavior that results, with murder, and links it to the statute against murder.  It is quite possible for us to look around and see the effects of slander, malicious gossip, insults, and all sorts of forms of this type of behavior within our communities, and in particular on the venue of social media, where it goes out to all and sundry within the sphere of the entire public.  Because of these sorts of expressions of hatred, not based in any sense of justice or mercy, people may lose their livelihoods and sense of well-being; this naturally also affects those who are their friends, neighbors, and colleagues, in addition to their children, spouses, and extended families.  An implacable rage is one that seeks to harm and to destroy -- even if those means are not nominally nor literally lethal.  To destroy someone else's sense of self, their sense of balance, is to seek to murder, in Jesus' description of righteousness and righteous behavior -- and what it is that constitutes violations of such.  There is a merciless quality to this kind of rage, which is neither open to dialogue nor peace.   Righteousness, therefore, in the sight of Christ, becomes not a simple question of earthly or material "justice" and our perception of what that means, but rather a question of what mercy really means, how we use that quality of discernment, and how we seek to practice the kind of love He teaches; this is not to condone bad behavior nor outrageous acts, but it is to see life in terms of what Christ's righteousness really means within the relationship to God and to community, extending into our own heart.  It is this upon which notions of gracious behavior are founded and understood.  Let us not lose sight of what is so precious, and can be destroyed so very easily.  For this kind of destruction, Jesus says, we will pay the last penny.