Heart-Murder!

nger is a choice! It is experienced in every marriage. “I hate you!” “I hate you!” “You love the children more than do me!” said Joe. “They are all that you care about.” “I wish I had never married you!” And depending on how his wife, Karen, responds Joe may call her names. And if Karen responds to that, he may insult her and ridicule her character. Anger is a powerful feeling! Many of us have wished our parents or friends were dead because they hurt us. How do you handle your anger? Our society has many suggestions about how to handle our anger. Some advise us to suppress our anger and others recommend we express it. John Powell said, “When I repress my emotions, my stomach keeps score.” Anger? Jesus introduces the subject with . . .

You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ “But I say to you . . . (NASB) Matthew 5:21-26

You have Heard. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus has just finished telling the crowd sitting on the hillside that unless their righteousness is greater than that of their spiritual leaders they will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And before that, He told them He came to fulfill the Law - not destroy it. So Jesus is ready to correct the false teaching of the Pharisees and Scribes. He is ready to reveal the unrighteousness of these “pastors” and “church leaders.”

“You have heard that the ancients were told.” The ancients were the Jewish spiritual leaders who had lived in time past. As an example, the Jews called two of their famous rabbis, Hillel and Shammai, “fathers of antiquity.” So Jesus quotes these religious leaders, “‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’“ This statement was like delicious food mixed with a little poison. Most of the statement was true but not all. The first part was the sixth commandment as given by God. It is recorded in Exodus 20:13 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5:17. And God’s penalty for murder was given in Exodus 21:12,

He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. (NASB) Exodus 21:12

The ancient religious leaders had altered the penalty. So what else is new! They had also altered the fifth commandment about honoring father and mother to say, “ . . . honor with words only.” They taught that it was not what happens on the inside that is important but what occurs on the outside. They apparently taught that God only required that you not physically murder someone else.

But I Say. They missed God’s point. They missed the intent of the sixth commandment and they made man’s civil court the standard - not God. So Jesus corrects their teaching,

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty [liable] before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. (NASB) Matt. 5:22