Matthew 5:21-26: What You've Heard About Anger
"You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times..."We hear this and tend to let it roll right past us. We are familiar with it. We think, "Jesus is simply reinterpreting the old law for his new hearers." Well, he is doing that, but he is also taking a bit of a shot. The people who "have heard that it was said," were obviously hearing it from somebody, because in those days not everyone had access to the law, like we have access to bibles, so they had teachers interpret it for them.So when Jesus says, "you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder...'" The people likely would have remembered the law, but they also would've remembered the individuals who taught and interpreted the law to them. These individuals consisted of the scribes and Pharisees.These teachers were keen on studying, teaching, and adhering to the law and the prophets, but in this passage Jesus indicates that they fundamentally misunderstood the message that the law was delivering.I believe that they misunderstood the message, because they misunderstood the originator of the message. They heard, "You shall not murder," and they immediately sought to live according to the principal of that law. They made it their aim to avoid murdering by any means necessary. That is, they read the law, and understood it in it's physical sense, the same way we might understand a law that says, "do not exceed 65 mph."The problem with this approach to the law is that the lawgiver is Spirit, and when he gives the law to us, it comes first to our spirit. Then from our spirit it emerges outward. But if we first understand it in a carnal fashion, our understanding of it will end at not killing people. And even though avoiding murder is a good thing, to hear that as the totality of God's law, is to overlook how the law applies to the spirit of a person, and thus misunderstand the big picture the law is painting.So Jesus comes and reinterprets the law in order that they can understand the original intent of the law that was given. "You have heard that is was said... 'You shall not murder.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment. So Jesus equates anger with murder. "Same punishment," he says. How crazy is he? How can murder and anger receive the same punishment?The answer to that question becomes clear when you see what it means to have an angry spirit. Jesus is not saying that anger, in and of itself, is bad. (Click here to read more from a previous post on anger.) He is saying that a spirit that has allowed the indwelling of anger, is murderous. For the spirit that has taken anger in as a welcomed guest, quickly becomes the type of spirit that wills the harm of others.Think of the last time you allowed anger to remain. It began as something small and insignificant, maybe a spill on your clothing. Instead of "laying anger aside," as the apostle Paul says, you indulge it it. You allow it to taint the way you see everyone. Now the person who accidentally spilled something on you is a clumsy jerk, rather than a child of God who made a mistake. This is just a small way that anger indulged causes us to have a skewed view of reality. Think about what it does over a long period of time. Could it be that a spill on a shirt in the morning can lead to murder in the evening? Under the control of anger it is possible.So it won't do to simply follow the advice of the Pharisee and avoid murdering people. For while you may avoid bringing about the death of someone's body, you might be walking around harming others, and your own soul, because you have let anger fester.So Jesus advises his listeners on how to keep this command from the heart. He says, "when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister is angry with you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift." And, “Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison."
Did you notice who the angry party was in his illustration? It’s not you, it’s the other person. So Jesus is saying, "Knowing how destructive anger is to the human spirit, I want you to become the type of person that regards your brother or sister so highly, that if you hear that they are angry with you, you will make it a top priority—even higher than your most sacred religious ritual— to seek them out and reconcile with them."