Matthew 5:21-22 (NIV): “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.”
God’s commands to His people regarding interpersonal relationships is first to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:36-40) His deeper commandment for those in the Church is to love each other as Christ loved us. (John 13:34) Even at the lowest level, loving our neighbors as ourselves, that would be enough to stop once and for all man’s inhumanity to man. It would stop the gross sin of murder absolutely. But it would also stop the more subtle sins of anger and hate, revenge, gossip, slander, and disdain that so characterize interpersonal relationships these days. Especially with the advent of social media, this sniping at and about others has reach an epidemic level, and relationships are being mashed and mangled and forever destroyed at an unprecedented level.
There is no love in anger, no matter how justified the anger may seem. Love is about restoration. If someone has sinned against us in some way, they have sinned against God by those same actions and attitudes. Love takes the focus off of our hurt at being done wrong, and puts it on restoring the sinner back into a right relationship with God. It’s the same way with revenge. Revenge is very self-centered, interested only in making oneself whole. Love is completely other-centered, interested in bringing wholeness to one who has separated themselves from God by their actions.
Disdain for people (“Raca” = “worthless”) is close kin to hatred, but without the passion. No one who loves another can consider them worthless or ignore them when they are in need. The fact is, there are no worthless people, because God loves them all. Even those who have been completely warped and twisted by sin, God still wants to save and remake into His own image. To them God sends His loving people as ambassadors of His kingdom, to hold out the olive branch of peace to them, to help them into a new life and a restored relationship with God Himself. But any who consider these broken people worthless, God can’t use to bring them to wholeness. Only those who see them through soft, loving hearts; only those who understand that they are like lost sheep without a shepherd; only those who weep over their lostness and who long to see them made whole can He use to bring them back in.
Jesus’ words were about far more than mere murder. They show that the way of the kingdom is genuine love for others, a love that moves God’s people to behave toward others in ways that the world will never understand.
Father, forgive us for doing less than loving other people like this. Forgive our hard hearts that justify our anger and our self-interest, our disdain and our putting down of those You love and are striving to reach. Remake and reshape our hearts, so that we can love like You do. Amen.