Matthew 5:21-26
Hate Crimes
The FBI defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property, motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” A hate crime is not the same as hate speech, which is also illegal, although often battled by free speech proponents. Hate crime laws and hate speech look at the heart of a person’s motivation to hurt another person. And they are sometimes difficult to convict, because who knows the heart of another person? God does, that’s who.
In today’s passage, Jesus ties our hateful speech to murder of the mind. It’s all part of his famous Sermon on the Mount. He begins to address six areas of life, contrasting what the rabbis had taught—basically the letter of the law—with God’s original intent, what we might call the spirit of the law. God is not after some legalistic obedience. He doesn’t want a look-good-on-the-outside Christian; he wants an inner transformation. God wants nothing less than your heart.
And the first of Jesus’ six areas of life is anger. You’ve probably heard someone say, “I’m not a bad person; after all, I’ve never killed anyone.” But Jesus says anger can turn into mental murder so quickly that we have effectively killed with our emotions and words. Ambrose Bierce once said, “Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” Or consider the wisdom of Will Rogers: “People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.”
But with God’s help, we can stop the hate, especially among fellow Christians, as a watching world takes note. I’ve tried to organize Jesus’ teaching into the three lessons on your outline: First, he says to...
1. Resolve those murderous thoughts (vv. 21-22)
Look at Jesus’ words in verses 21 and 22. He says,
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 court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
When Jesus quotes the sixth commandment from Exodus 20:13, he uses a Greek word that means “premeditated murder,” just like the original Hebrew. The penalty was death. It was a capital offense. But Jesus goes a step further and says our anger directed towards a fellow Christian, a “brother or sister” in the faith, ALSO makes us liable for judgment. Apparently, unresolved anger is very serious!
So let’s lighten the mood and learn some cuss words in another language. (Isn’t that always fun?) “Raca” is Aramaic for “empty-headed.” It sounds pretty vicious, doesn’t it? And the word for “fool” is moros in the Greek, from which we get the word “moron.” Jewish people appreciated the power of words. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will...break my heart!” That’s the truth!
Jesus says if you use some of these words in anger, your soul is in danger of hell. The word he uses for hell is “Gehenna,” which was an actual place. It was a ravine on the west side of Jerusalem, just outside the city gates, where a couple of evil Israelite kings had allowed human sacrifices back in the day (2 Chr. 28:3; 33). Later King Josiah desecrated the area (2Ki 23:10; see Jer. 7:31–32; 19:6). By Jesus’ time, the Jews had turned it into a garbage dump where fires continually burned. It became symbolic of the eternal fires of hell.
So, what’s the bottom line? Jesus traces anger back to its source: the condition of our heart. Murder first begins with a murderous attitude, desiring to harm another. When you’re angry, step back and ask yourself “why.” Why am I angry? And work on resolving it before it turns ugly. Jesus considers the intent as dangerous as the act. So watch out for those thoughts! And then,
2. Make it right when you can (vv. 23-24)
Jesus illustrates with a couple of stories how seriously we need to resolve anger in our relationships. You know, we do all kinds of things to deal with our anger. We count to 10, or count backwards from 100 by 7s. (Can you do that?) We practice breathing techniques. I heard about one couple discussing anger in their marriage. The husband said to his wife, “When I get mad at you, you never fight back. How do you control your anger so well?” She replied, “Well, I just clean the toilet.” He said, “How does that help?” And she said, “I use your toothbrush.”
Jesus deals not so much with our OWN anger but with when we make OTHERS angry. He gives an illustration in verses 23-24:
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.”
There’s something to note here: Our relationships with others directly impact our relationship with God. God doesn’t want you cozying up to him in worship, trying to assuage your conscience, when you need to be out there apologizing to someone you hurt. This type of matter is so serious that Jesus says you need to leave your gift at church and go make it right immediately. Then, you can come back and finish worshiping God. [Pause] I was waiting for someone to step out. Does anyone need to leave? We’ll just pretend you went to the restroom. Then Jesus tells us to #3,
3. Settle out of court (vv. 25-26)
He gives another illustration beginning with vv. 25-26:
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.”
In other words, Jesus says, settle out of court! He says, if you keep fighting for your rights here, you’re going to wind up with nothing! How much time do we waste trying to be right? One time in the Army I was leading a marriage seminar, and a young man said, “I’ve learned that you can be right or you can be happy!” That certainly holds true for marriage, but also for every other relationship.
Did you notice that both of Jesus’ examples don’t have to do with our own anger at all, but rather with others who are angry with us? Maybe if we work on resolving the anger we’ve provoked in others, we won’t have time to nurse our own anger. Jesus talks about how to resolve conflict when WE’VE been wronged in another passage: Matthew 18:15-17. Basically, we’re to confront the person privately to try to make it right, then take a witness if we need to.
Here Jesus says, “Settle matters quickly!” Don’t procrastinate. Deal with it, before you talk yourself out of doing the right thing. Make it right, even if you have to pay a little extra for it. It’s worth it in the end.
Maybe you’ve tried to make it right, and the other person won’t let it go. They won’t forgive you. In cases like this, I like Romans 12:18: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” We do all we possibly can, then we leave the rest to God. Sometimes it’s not possible, because the other person doesn’t want peace. Don’t beat yourself up for it. Move on, and trust God to work in their hearts.
So, who do you need to make peace with? What if you knew tomorrow was your day to meet your maker? What relationship would you want to work on today? Don’t wait. Be a quick forgiver, but also be a quick repenter, asking others to forgive you. Stop the hate crimes! Let’s show the world a better way to live. Let us pray:
God, help us with our words, and even deeper than our words, our hateful, vengeful hearts. As always, we need your Holy Spirit’s help. We cannot do this alone. Before we know it, we have hated our neighbor instead of loving him. We have name-called and gossiped and held grudges before we even realized it. Help us to be quick forgivers and quick repenters because you have forgiven us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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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.’ 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 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, 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.
