TO ANOTHER LEVEL (PART 1)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“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.’ 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 court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

“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. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

Matthew 5:21-26

“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

Luke 12:57-59

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s devotion, we found Jesus assuring His listeners that He had not come to abolish the Law in any way, the scriptures used by the Jewish religious authorities to teach the people about God’s commands and expectations, the scriptures that were used to enforce those expectations so people would turn from sin and toward righteousness.

You may recall that at the end of this assurance delivered by Jesus, He exhorted the people to live in a way where their righteousness would exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, the acknowledged role models the people followed when it came to compliance with the Law. His words must have left the crowds wondering how that would be possible. How would they elevate their level of righteousness above the current standard?

Jesus was about to tell them in a series of teaching blocks which show the people that it’s was clearly possible for them to go to the next level when it came to adhering to the Law and still improving the way they lived. Let’s look at the first teaching block found in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5:

“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.’ 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 court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

“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. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”  Matthew 5:21-26

Did you see what Jesus did?

He took an element of the Law, a commandment that everyone would be familiar with (murder), and enhanced the commandment. Jesus didn’t say it was now fine to murder. No, it was still a horrific sin and anyone who committed it would be subject to judgment. But He took the commandment not to murder and made it better than it was when it stood on its own.

How did Jesus make it better?

He did so by getting to the root cause of murder (anger or incitation/antagonization). Jesus knew that people who committed murder often did so while consumed with rage, sometimes referred to today as “blind rage” because a person loses sight of the consequences of their actions while in the throes of anger.

And so Jesus addressed the matter of anger and added the emotion to the list of things that would bring judgment. Perhaps we should remember this as we live our lives day to day because I am sure we all have dealt with issues of anger, sometimes daily. Jesus knew that if He could get people to stop being angry, then He could drastically decrease the number of murders because He would remove the spark that so often lit the fuse of killing.

But Jesus didn’t stop there, did He?

For He drilled down deeper into the actions that could contribute to someone getting angry enough to murder, saying:

“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.”

How many times have murders happened just by someone speaking a word of insult against another?

More than we want to admit, I’m afraid.

This is why Jesus wanted to address the practice in His day and ours. We’re to avoid saying things that we know will stir up strife and provoke another. Anyone who does will be subject to consequences which included court or even worse, the “fire of hell”. Yikes!

Think about how many times you have gotten angry or called someone a name?

Do these words of Jesus change the way you will look at your behavior?

I pray so because this is what He was trying to accomplishment and He drove home His point by promising penalties for disobedience.

All this would have been more than enough to encourage others to change their behavior toward righteousness but Jesus wasn’t finished, was He? He still had more to say on this matter as He took the Law to another level through two additional urgings. First, look at these words:

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

If you’re looking for the opposite of incitation, you turn toward reconciliation, the emotion that is anti-anger and anti-name calling.

How important is the matter of reconciliation?

Jesus tells His audience that it should be made a priority before they make an offering to God, before they leave their gift at the altar. The gifts presented at the altar were intended to honor God but we see here where Jesus encourages the people to bring further honor to the Lord through reconciling with a brother or sister who may be holding something against them. Once the reconciliation was achieved, then the offering could be given, with the gift of resolution included.

The second urging Jesus gave was centered on settling disputes. He said:

  

“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. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

Through His words, Jesus commands His listeners (or readers in our case) to settle matters quickly with any adversaries who may be taking them to court, to settle the issues outside of court or run the risk of that adversary going to court, making their case before the judge, and then that judge passing penalties which could include fines or even incarceration which would not end until restitution had been made. In other words, settlement, as in the matter of reconciliation, is desirable in the eyes of Jesus and we should be obedient to these desires as we are all the ones Jesus has for us.

So to recap, Jesus takes the matter of murder to another level, commanding that we avoid anger and provoking others through name calling. He also demands that we exercise reconciliation with anyone who holds something against us and settlement in matters that could go to court. Now, it’s up to us to take this teaching and apply it to the way we live our lives.

And remember, Jesus is watching.

Tomorrow, we’ll see how Jesus takes the matter of adultery to the next level in part two of this eight devotion series.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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