The Sermon On The Mount (Part Eight) Series

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (part eight)

Matthew 5:21-26

As we continue our series, we come to the place where Jesus stresses the importance of dealing with our anger and mending relationships. We’ve all been angry at someone. The question is-what has that anger produced? If we don’t properly deal with our anger it will result in bitterness, resentment and hatred. It can cause us to inflict harm. That’s not the attitude or behavior of a follower of Christ. What about when we know someone is angry with us? What should we do then? Let’s see what Jesus has to say about all of that.

1) When you're angry with your brother (21-22).

Matt. 5:21-22, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell."

Jesus is going deeper than just the command of do not murder and into addressing the heart of the matter. This coincides with how God addressed Cain. God knew there was murder in Cain's heart towards his brother. He warned Cain to get control of his murderous thoughts. Unfortunately, Cain didn't listen and he killed his brother. Here Jesus goes after the same principle.

Before we actually commit murder, we have murderous intentions in our heart. Even if someone acts on impulse they still had evil thoughts about the person beforehand. And even if you're a serial killer and kill people at random you're still being fueled by murderous thoughts.

So Jesus is addressing the sins of the mouth and heart here. He's taking it further than just the act of murder and the consequences derived from that.

"Anyone who is angry with his brother". Some manuscripts have: “angry with his brother without cause”. There are some legitimate reasons to be angry with someone. If I've been abused or cheated or slandered or sinned against some other way. But there are plenty of reasons that are not legitimate too. When I'm going by assumptions or when my anger is fueled by selfishness or pride; things like that.

So Jesus isn't saying that if you get angry you're going to face God's judgment. Everyone gets angry. And anger in and of itself isn't a sin. But it can become sin if we don't have the right reaction to it.

Eph. 4:26-27, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”

He didn’t say, “Don’t get angry.” He said, “do not sin". Don't get angry for the wrong reasons or wrong causes. And don’t let it linger because you'll allow the devil to grab a hold of your heart and mind.

There were two Greek words used for anger. One was for the anger that comes and goes quickly. Then the other, used here in Matthew 5:22, was for the anger that festered and grew. That’s not to say there’s no problem with anger that flares up and dies quickly but the most damaging and consequential form of anger is the one that is the slow burn, where we keep throwing logs on the fire until we reach a boiling point and explode.

Raca, means, empty-head. Today it would be like calling someone stupid or moron. Jesus is saying if you do this you will have to answer for it. Anger can cause us to be venomous in our speech and say hurtful words. Laurence Peter said, "Speak when you're angry and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret."

And if your viciousness goes so far as to call someone a fool, you'll be in greater danger. This doesn't compute with us who think calling someone a fool isn't that big of a deal. But if a person said this back then they would really be calling someone morally deficient or Godless (Psalm 14:1: 'the fool says in his heart there is no God'.)

In today's language it would be like telling someone, 'go to hell' or that they're going to hell. Basically, Jesus is saying if this is your sincere wish for your fellow man then you are in danger of such judgment. In Jesus’ day, to call someone a fool was a serious accusation. No one would consider saying such a thing unless anger had reached the point of hatred.

It’s not that calling someone a fool punches our ticket to hell but Jesus is calling attention to the direction that someone who has that level of hatred is going. One may have thought that murdering someone in thought or with words was no big deal; only the actual act was something to be taken seriously.