But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall 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 the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  On Saturday we read that 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."  At this stage of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will repeat the formula "but I say to you..." My study Bible says that this repeated formula is a statement of total, divine authority (Matthew 7:29).  As the Creator of human beings, and also the Author of the Law, Christ can speak with this authority.  As there is a type of anger that is not sinful (Psalms 4:4; Mark 3:5), here Jesus is forbidding sinful anger, and identifies it with murder.  The council is the supreme legal body among the Jews.  Hell is translated from the Greek rendered Gehenna (γέενναν); which is itself a transliteration of the Hebrew term, Gêhinnōm, meaning "the valley of Hinnom."  (See also Matthew 10:28.)  This term is also also referred to as the "lake of fire" in Revelation.   It 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."  My study Bible comments here 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 is a sign of reconciliation and forgiveness, which prepares the faithful to offer the holy gifts at the altar (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 particular teaching in the context of the end of the age (Luke 12:57-59).  Here in Matthew's Gospel it is in the context of reconciliation surrounding the Liturgy.  To delay in reconciliation means allowing or the spread of animosity and other evils (Ephesians 4:26-27).  

In today's excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks about the failure of reconciliation, and He places the responsibility for this on the one who causes offense, the one for whom a brother has something against them.  He begins with the admonition against provocation and name-calling.  But even that starts with His teaching on anger.   He begins with the law against murder, and likens a particular type of anger to it.  Note that this, according to my study Bible, is not righteous anger, such as Jesus' response to the hardness of hearts of those who would forbid a healing in Mark 3:5.  But even in that case of an anger begun by a reasonable grief at those who would refuse someone a healing, Jesus does not respond with a rash act, but with a good one:  His response is to heal, regardless of the actions and motivations of the religious rulers in the synagogue.  What that teaches us is a meditation on what Jesus means by meekness, such as when He taught in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (in this reading).   For Christ's kind of meekness was on display when He healed the paralytic in Mark 3:1-6 although the religious leaders would certainly accuse Him of violating the Sabbath.  Meekness, as my study Bible noted in the commentary on the Beatitudes, is not passive weakness, but rather strength under control.  This aspect of self-control or self-mastery is central to the entire history of Christian spiritual teaching.  It is the key to the historical monastic practice of seeking dispassion.  That is, not to be ruled by our passions.  It is in a true sense the way to unlock the meaning of discipleship.  This is because our passions can simply take their own way with us, surpassing all manner of what we might do or think in calmer circumstances and a cooler frame of mind.  Passions are those things, in effect, that overwhelm us and therefore render us truly weak and passive.  So the kind of self-control that is in this aspect of what Jesus calls "meekness" is all about not letting anger or other passions get to oneself, not letting the things that seek to push our buttons send us over the edge into out-of-control unbalance or lack of equanimity.  This "meekness" is all about the strength of self-mastery, so that we keep our cool when we need to, and respond to even highly stressful circumstances, such as when we're provoked even to righteous anger, get the better of us -- and so that we can respond in the way God would call us to do, as did Jesus.  This is a lost understanding in a modern cultural world in which so many seem to take cues from social media that it is appropriate to vent, to act out.  Our films tend to praise the heroic in ways that prize action over sober assessment or discernment.  What we want is the right action of righteousness instead.  Sometimes our own social ailments are caused by a very poor response to passion in ways that seek to blunt it; for example, using drugs or other substances, or to direct such energy into things that ultimately harm us or someone else.  But simply channeling emotion elsewhere or suppressing it or numbing it is not the answer.  This kind of meekness means that we are able to feel what we feel and yet still choose an appropriate response, and that is the aim of true spiritual discipline.  Those who seek to live in prayer and spiritual discipline in fact seek to cultivate this approach to life and to service to God.  It is the true heart and aim of historical Christian spiritual life and practice.  It is what a prayerful mind seeks to achieve in response to life.  So Christ is teaching us in this gospel of the Kingdom about what it means to be truly and fully human, as creations of God meant to fulfill the image and likeness in which we were created (Genesis 1:26-27).  Even in the Garden, and before the first sin made its appearance, human beings were clearly meant to be creatures who would learn and grow.  In this context, to be truly "natural" in theological terms means to bear the likeness and image in which we were created.  At the present state of the world, this need is more clear and -- in the context of the salvation offered by Christ -- even dire.  So this gives us an image in which we're asked to use the potentials for discipleship within ourselves, which includes the capacity both to know our feelings and to choose wisely how we will express them.  Christ is calling us to a deeper order of community, one that includes God and neighbor, as well as our own hearts and minds in that communion.  But He has given us help to do so.  Let us live the fullness of that life to which He calls us, with all the help He gives us to do so -- a prayerful life, and one in which we allow God to shape us through all the varied means we're given in the fullness of the Church and the Kingdom that dwells within us.  This is the fulfillment of the righteousness of faith.