Listent to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-september-22
Matthew 5:21-26
Murder
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Our passage for today relates teachings from Jesus that are probably more important for contemporary disciples than they would have been in earlier times. Modern media culture is organized to get us as upset as possible about issues in our lives. To a lesser degree, that’s been true ever since the advent of the printing press led to mass media, beginning with newspapers. But in the contemporary world, algorithms built into the digital media feed us more and more extreme versions of whatever opinions we seem to hold – so we’re encouraged to be more and more worked up about our beliefs, to the point of anger and even outrage.
Being furious about things seems to be regarded as a virtue these days. Remember the near-riots at school board meetings during the pandemic, when mask mandates were denounced as “tyranny?” Everywhere you look in modern culture – and sadly, even in the church – being loudly angry is supposed to be a sign that you’re a person to be taken seriously. Only wimps respectfully disagree – righteous people shout angrily.
That’s why I say that what Jesus said in the first part of today’s reading is especially relevant to our lives today.
We should probably stop to remind ourselves that what Jesus says here expresses the New Testament idea that what we think matters just as much as what we do. As you might remember, when Jesus talked about the greatest commandment, he added mind to the Old Testament’s heart, soul and strength with which we are to love God. And in today’s passage, Jesus seems to be making the point that allowing our minds to be consumed with hateful thoughts is just as evil in God’s eyes as actually doing violence.
Obviously, it would be ridiculous to say that once you’ve already thought angry thoughts, you might as well go ahead and commit an act of violence. That would amount to adding a second (physical) sin to a first (mental) one. It seems pretty clear that what Jesus means is that we are to guard our minds against harboring angry and hateful thoughts, and to put thoughts like that out of our minds when they pop up. (Because, let’s face it, almost all of us do sometimes have angry and hateful thoughts.)
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who finds avoiding angry thoughts to be challenging, to say the least. But anger management really is possible. There are mental disciplines that can help. For instance, when another person really makes you mad, you can stop for a moment and pray for that person. And I don’t mean just pray that God will make them stop bothering you. You can pray for God’s blessing on the person who’s angered you, and pray that God will bring about reconciliation between the two of you. It’s pretty hard to hang onto your furious anger once you’ve got God involved in the process.
Jesus goes on to say some really interesting things in the rest of this passage. For instance, he says that in God’s eyes, even our worship of him is compromised if we are harboring anger against another person, and especially against another believer. It seems that God would rather have us put aside our religious activities and make peace, and then come back to worship with a mind free of the distraction of bitter anger.
This teaching seems to be telling us that when we are in disputes with others, we are to settle them. In other words, to compromise. That’s another thing only wimps do, according to modern culture. People of principle are supposed to refuse to back down. But most disputes among people are something less than black and white. There’s some truth on both sides. So refusing to back down usually just leaves both sides feeling aggrieved.
And Jesus adds a practical reason for compromise to the theological one that might be most evident. If we refuse to settle our disputes with others, we risk having the whole matter decided against us – by legal authorities, or just by “the court of public opinion.”
But the real core of what Jesus says in this passage seems to me to be primarily psychological. And in this case, psychology leads to theology. The things that we allow to exist in our minds have a way of growing in their power and their influence in our lives. Unchecked anger has the disturbing habit of growing and festering, and eventually it’s often manifested in physical behavior. I think it’s worth considering whether the current rash of political and ideological violence might be a reflection of the danger of ignoring Jesus’ teaching on this matter. It seems to me that if we are to be faithful as his followers, we have an obligation to learn discipline over the thoughts of our minds to prevent tragic events in the physical world and disruptions in the life of the church.
Let’s pray. Lord, you know how easy it is for us to be consumed by ugly anger, and even to tell ourselves that we are experiencing “righteous indignation,” as though that were a virtue on our part. By your Holy Spirit make us more gentle and more forgiving so that we can faithfully model Christ-like behavior in all our relationships. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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