Matthew 5:21-26
WHAT KINDS OF THINGS MAKE YOU ANGRY?
HOW DO YOU EXPRESS YOUR ANGER?
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH YOUR ANGER, HOW DO YOU GET RID OF IT?
MUST YOU ALWAYS GET RID OF YOUR ANGER?
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will 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. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
BACKGROUND
Jesus has just finished telling his hearers that works of the law cannot get you into heaven. Now he expounds on this by dealing with six behaviors all of which he begins by saying, “You have heard that it was said…” which is his expounding on the law.
Also, by using this phrase, Jesus is commenting on authority that came before the Pharisees, greater than the Pharisees, because is was from ancient times, from the law, which they revered. But he follows up each saying with a second saying, “But I say to you…” which is Jesus claiming higher authority than not only the Pharisees, but of the law itself.
Jesus spent the previous section of his discourse saying the law was not done away with. But then he, in the next six sections, ups the ante by going to the heart of the offense, not just the outward offense itself. In this case the issue isn’t murder, but the anger that led to murder.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANGER AND RIGHTEOUS ANGER?
Consider these two statements which appear to be at odds with one another.
James said “The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).
The apostle Paul said, “Be angry, yet do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26).
HOW DO YOU RECTIFY THESE TWO STATEMENTS?
In Matthew 21, Jesus overturns the money tables in the temple. He was clearly angry. There is a difference between anger and righteous anger.
Luke 23:34. “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’”
Jesus was not angry at those who crucified him. He was asking God for their forgiveness. Jesus did not get angry at personal affronts, but at injustice, hypocrisy, unbelief, exploitation, and unrepentant sin.
EXAMINATION
(V.21) You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.”
By using the phrase, “those of old,” Jesus is referring back to the Mosaic Law. At this point in their history, the Mosaic Law was around 1400 years old. It was ancient, but also well preserved.
Judgment, in this verse, refers to legal judgment with a local judge. Remember that Jesus is commenting on the Mosaic Law and the scribal traditions. Murder was an earthly offense and the law had stipulations against murder and it’s punishment.
(V.22) But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”
By using this little phrase, “But I say to you…” Jesus is setting himself up as not only equal to the law, but above Moses, the law giver. Remember that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. Jude says it was Jesus who lead Israel out of slavery (Jude 1:5). This is why people were astonished at Jesus’ teaching. He set himself up as a higher authority than them; and of Moses whom they revered.
(V.22) “Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council.”
The council being referred to here is the Sanhedrin. Depending upon the size of the city, the council would have had 70, 23, or 8 members. The Sanhedrin often decided civil as well as criminal cases because they were experts in the law and held authority over the organization of the community. This is the next highest authority over simple judges.
(V.22) “Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”
Hell is eternal judgment. Each authority mentioned so far is of higher authority than the previous one. But did you notice the catch?
The offenses committed decrease in severity, not increase. Murder went before a judge. But an insult went before the council. And a bad word, like calling someone a moron, put one in danger of hell. You would think that it was the more serious offenses that would require higher authority. But that’s not how Jesus taught it. He’s making a point. Even a small sin is deadly serious in God’s eyes.
(V.23-24) “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.”
Leaving the gift at the altar demonstrates that God is first concerned with the heart and true repentance than sacrifices. Consider what Jesus is instructing the worshipper to do by leaving his sacrifice.
Sacrifices weren’t cheap. Animals cost a lot of money. A bull for a sacrifice might cost $300 in today’s money. For an ancient Israelite, that was huge money. Jesus is saying, take the loss to reconcile with your brother. Peace between brothers is more important than a possession, even one dedicated to God.
(V.25) “Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court.”
There are three examples. First, in verses 21-23 Jesus refers to your anger. Second, is the brother with something against you (23-24). The third is the accuser to take you to court (25-26). The second holds it in but does nothing other than stew. The third wants revenge. It’s not okay to leave one stewing. Jesus urges reconciliation with both. Interestingly, in these two examples it is others who are angry, not the offender. Jesus is not teaching about what to do with your anger, but other’s anger. So, we can be responsible for someone else’s anger. We are called to alleviate their anger.
(V.25-26) “Lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
This is a way of saying that you will never escape judgment. No one earned money in prison. Someone from outside could pay your penalty, but that was your only hope. Thankfully, Jesus paid our penalty to free us from an eternal prison.
INTERPRETATION
Remember that one of the things that we are learning about from the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus is often revealing what he’s going to do or what’s going to happen to him. And I think that’s no less true with this passage. Consider the ties of the words that Jesus is using and how prophetic it is about what is going to happen to him.
The religious leaders are going to murder Jesus. They will then put them on trial. I.E., judgment. They would be angry with him and insult him and call him names. What Jesus is urging them to do is to be reconciled with him. We need to be reconciled to him in order to be saved. Otherwise he will hand us over to the guard who will take us to prison, i.e., hell.
Secondly, one part of interpreting a text is to examine its structure to see if its literary devices are pointing us to something the Lord wants us to see in the text. Last week we saw this with antithetical parallelism. This week we have a structure, a pattern in the text that draws us to the center.
I’ve color coded certain words in the text and divided it into sections to help us see where the text is drawing us. Notice two things. First, a pattern of threes. Notice, it says angry, insults, and you fool. That’s a pattern of three. Also, it says judgment, council, and hellfire, that’s a also a pattern of three. In addition, he starts out with a reference to judgment and then he ends with a reference to judgment when the text says, “you will never get out.” Do you see how all of this fits together?
Second, the structure drawing us to the center of the text, which is Jesus’ main point for the passage, it’s what he wants us to do. What is the center? To be reconciled with Jesus.
The structure of the passage is drawing us to the center. That is the main point that Matthew and Jesus want us to understand. It says, “First be reconciled to your brother.” Also, “Come to terms quickly.” Without the center of this passage, then we would have no hope whatsoever. This is what Jesus wants us to understand in this part of his discourse, that we be reconciled to him and come to terms with him that he offers us for our salvation. Without it, we have no hope.
APPLICATION
In light of the seriousness of our sin, how should we deal with our anger with other people?
Can you think of someone that you are angry with or upset with? How should you deal with that situation?
In light of Jesus’ main point, to be reconciled with him, what must we do to fulfill this scripture in our lives?
