God’s Constitution, Pt 13: Murder

Matthew 5:21-26                   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.’ 22But 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 court. 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, 24leave 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. 26Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

I would not expect that anyone reading this blog or the related verse would have killed any human, except possibly in times of war, or even more rarely in times of self-defense, but the subject here is only tangentially related to murder.  More exactly the context is attitude, or humility or Godly submission.  Most people don’t kill people, but everyone can get angry, even rageful, and it is what one does about that emotion that is in view here.

As a case in point, I have a relative with whom I had had a falling-out, a long time in the developing, and the breach that developed was intended to be permanent.  He had, I believe, the same attitude.  That was five years ago, but just 9 months ago he approached me for help with a problem.  His very request must have been taken a deep humility.  At the time, I remember asking myself, “Just what am I getting into?”  I could have said, “Get away from me!” and the world would have found no fault with that in light of what had gone before.  But that is not God’s way.  I did help him at the time and have continued in relationship, and that relationship is growing stronger by the day.

These verses immediately follow Jesus’ promulgation that he had ‘not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it”.  These verses and others following are examples to show ways in which that fulfilling might happen.  Jesus opens this passage with a reference to the 6th Commandment, and is obviously not abrogating the Commandment, but is reinterpreting and expanding to include attitude and intent.  I suppose there have been times in our lives when we have said, “I could just kill him!”  Is that murder?  No.  Is that a close second?  Yes.  The difference is whose judgement is in view here.  Certainly, a human court has purview over criminal killing, but not over attitude as that would be thought control.  But God does have purview over thoughts as well as deeds.

Although the Old Testament condemns anger, it no place equates it with murder.  That Jesus does so is an indication of the seriousness of anger.  Anger is serious because it leads to other things; seldom does murder occur without some form of anger preceding it.  Anger can lead to abuse, to severing of relationship, and eventually to self-destruction.  So Jesus takes extra steps to underscore his meaning.  How many times have we called someone an idiot (that’s what Raca means in Aramaic)?  How often have we called someone a fool?  These are minor things often said in jest but they can hurt!  I remember a time when I used a slightly offensive word directed at a friend playfully, but I watched as his eyes sort of glazed over.  It turned out it was particularly offensive because his father had used it many times against him and he was highly sensitive.  We have to be careful about such things because we can hurt without intending too.  We have to be so careful that when we realize we have hurt someone we have to take care of it immediately even if we are in church.  Maybe especially because we are in church.  Neglected grievances can have irreconcilable consequences, and while the world would say that the injured person’s hurt is his problem, not yours, the truth is that is exactly the opposite of God’s view.

The trouble is that anger doesn’t just pop into existence.  It grows from lesser offenses that are left unresolved.  We call these things grievances.  The world is aware that consequences come from offenses and similarly in the Kingdom of God offenses between believers can have dramatic influence on whole communities.  See, God wants His children to grow in holiness and righteousness but seemingly insignificant things like offenses can have dramatic effects in His Kingdom too.  In learning holiness and righteousness we have to be all in because there can be no half-way in God’s Kingdom.  He helps when we fall, certainly, but our intent has to be one of complete commitment.  That’s why every time, not just once in a while, when we become aware that someone has an offense with us we must go to him to see it reconciled and healed.  Later on in Matthew we’ll read verses about handing someone our coat in addition to the shirt he asks for and about walking the extra mile with someone who needs a little help.  Here is the point:  It is not enough just to refrain from anger (in our human flesh we would eventually weaken anyway).  It is not even enough to avoid the precursors to anger like minor grievance.  Our heart must be so submitted to God’s love for us and for His other children that we look out for them too.  We avoid the grievances by helping them before the grievances develop.  We make the extra effort, willingly, not begrudgingly, to help even our opponent.

The examples contained within these verses are examples of true and false righteousness.  The public exhibitors of false righteousness in Jesus’ day were the Pharisees.  These verses are the first of many in the Sermon on the Mount (which this series is studying) which contrasts the false righteousness of the religious elite and the righteousness desired by God.  We all have probably seen street evangelists and tele-evangelists who seem fraudulent at the core.  Something just does not seem right.  These are the modern-day Pharisees, people whose walk doesn’t seem to match their talk.  That’s not what God wants for us.  He wants us to seek Him, follow the written word and the Living Word, adding nothing to nor taking anything away.