New & Improved

Matthew 5:21-24 You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.


I love the way Jesus fills the commandments with deeper more challenging meaning. Angry with a brother or sister seems like the way of life. Calling someone a fool, not quite so common but never the less frequent. I think Jesus is using his own way of saying what St. Paul wrote when he wrote, "All sin and fall short of the glory of God." We are all subject to judgment seems to be the message. It also seems that we need to be careful about holding on to ager or harboring resentments or keeping an attitude that others are fools. Repentance before we come to seek God's blessing is the rule of the day.


So often we hold onto hurts and resentments. We fester inside carrying burdens from neglect, abuse, and rejections. We think that our strong grip on our angers are only fair. The ones who hurt us owe us that much at least. We think our leasing the anger would be a gift to the one who harmed us, but really it is the opposite. Our resentments only hurt our hearts and lives. The accumulation keeps us from being open to others, either to accept love or to trust people.


What if God acted like that? What hope would we have if God demanded a pound of flesh for all our sins?