You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
– Matthew 5:21-26
We all experience it. For some people it is a frequent visitor; for others only seldom. Some people live in it daily, and must wrestle with how to control it and navigate through it. The “it” of which I speak, of course, is anger. It comes as part of our human condition. We could contend that anger is not necessarily bad, and perhaps that case could be made. We could also contend that anger is something we can’t help, something out of our control. Regardless of how we frame it, we can’t avoid the fact that Jesus saw anger as being problematic.
These verses form the first of several brief illustrations Jesus offers in connection to his teaching regarding the Law in verses 17-20. The foundational point is that the Law is ultimately a matter of the heart (see Heart Righteousness). Yes, outward actions matter, and indeed they are the most visible means by which we might judge adherence or violation of God’s commands. However, Jesus will effectively demonstrate that one might well be a Law-breaker while appearing to be a Law-keeper.
Before we unpack what Jesus teaches in this passage, let’s make a few observations regarding the concept of anger in relation to God. First, there are plenty of references in the Bible that mention divine anger. If you need a few references, try Exodus 4:14; Exodus 32:10; Deuteronomy 6:15; and just so we don’t think it is isolated to the Old Testament, see Mark 3:5. Now observe something else we see in the Bible, which is how God’s anger compares to God’s compassion. “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm 103:8). “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime…” (Psalm 30:5a). If we are to ask which is greater, the magnitude of God’s anger or the magnitude of God’s compassion, compassion wins in a landslide.
Now consider two helpful passages from the New Testament epistles. “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20). The point being made seems rather clear: anger tends not to lead humans in paths of righteousness. To compliment this thought, consider what the apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26. “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” This is a clear warning about the destructive potential of anger. When we are moved by anger, sin is right around the corner.
Now let’s return to Jesus’ teaching. Jesus reminds his hearers of what the Law says: you shall not commit murder. What is murder? Simply put, it is the unwarranted harming, ultimately taking, of another person’s life. While we think of murder as an outward act, Jesus is diving deeper into matters of the heart. His first declaration may seem overstated: “anyone who is angry with a brother is guilty.” To understand Jesus’ point, we need to keep reading and note the progression of thought. “Whoever says to his brother, ‘you good-for-nothing,'” followed by “whoever says, ‘you fool.'” shall be guilty. You see, anger tends not to stay hidden. It has a way of leaking out in our actions, our words, even in our temperament toward others. When it does, it harms life. And even if we were to keep the anger completely hidden in our hearts (do you see where this is going?), the damage is still done, even if no one else notices.
Jesus then presses toward reconciliation, and once again his words may at first strike us as misstated. “If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and remember that your brother has something against you….” “Against me? What did I do? I thought we were talking about what the other person did, the thing that made me angry!” Of course, that is where we would like to focus our attention, on the other person’s sin. But Jesus isn’t addressing the matters of the other person; he is addressing the matters of our own hearts. What could my brother have against me? The harm I have done to him, even if it never manifested itself for others to see. If I have harmed another person by my words, my demeanor, or even just the thoughts that occupy my mind, Jesus says I am a Law-breaker in need of forgiveness.
This may be one of the more difficult of Jesus’ teachings. It is undeniably challenging. Our reaction to it might be to brush it off, to find a way to dance around it, or to create loopholes by which we can avoid accountability to the teaching. A better approach, though admittedly more difficult, would be to allow the light of Jesus’ teaching to examine our hearts, that in the core of our being we may navigate through our human inclinations in a way that honors God and keeps us truly loving others. It is a pretty tough path to navigate when anger is our guide.
See you along the Winding Path.
The Winding Path 