Sometimes, I think that scripture was written just for me. Something is going on in my life, and suddenly, I trip over a scripture reading that directly addresses the issue that I am facing. How does God do that? Today’s gospel (Matthew 5:20-26) is an excellent example.
“Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement.” (Matthew 5:22)
“Go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23)
Jesus is trying to tell us that the commandment “Thou shall not kill” goes a lot deeper than just the act of taking someone’s life. It is in the heart that murder is first committed. Intention is what shapes the quality, the character, and the morality of what one does in freedom. John tells us, “To hate someone is to be a murderer” (1 John 3:15). When we no longer see a human being, or a group, or a class of people as images of God, Jesus tells us we are guilty of murder.
“Whoever is angry with his brother” (Matthew 5:22) allows a spontaneous aversion, irritation, or resentment to influence and to color our attitude towards the other. We will allow an unpleasant experience years ago to “veil” our seeing the splendor of God in our interactions with that person today. As anger continues its destructive work in our hearts, it will soon find expression in our outward behavior. It will poison our thinking, our speech, even our surroundings. Abuse will follow, well rationalized so that the abuse will appear to us as the due response to the alleged evil in the brother. As the voice of conscience is stifled, so is the voice of truth, and it is easy to believe and perpetuate misperceptions. The final step is when we declare our brother evil and we start to treat them as evil himself. Murder in all its forms then appears fully justified and the only right course of action.
This does not mean that we are to abdicate our moral judgement. This would be cowardly and abdicate our responsibility to Christian charity. We are fully justified in judging through our eyes of truth and love what is visible to our eyes, but we must leave to God the label of evil and condemnation of that which we cannot see, the soul itself. Otherwise, we deny the possibility of our brother’s conversion and the victory of Christ’s all-inclusive love.
To nurse our anger is to refuse to be reconciled. Christ’s Sacrifice, and our sacrifice to Him, is meant to effect reconciliation. If our heart is blocked and we are unwilling to be reconciled, what use is the sacrifice.
This reminds me of the Old Testament verse: “I desire mercy not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). This verse has always intrigued me because it is God who is speaking and why would God require mercy from man! So what is the Lord saying here? He did not misspeak. Jesus makes it clearer today. “Be merciful to your fellow man, then you can give Me praise.”
Why is this so hard to do? Because we have to admit wrong, even if we do not think we are wrong. We have to set aside our pride. We have to put ourselves in the lower place. We have to give up control. What if the other person does not accept our apology? What if they do not want to reconcile? What if they sneer at us and further abuse us?
Jesus died for the victims AND for the executioners. He loved all of us and commanded that we do the same. How is this humanly possible? In truth, it is not. We can only act contrary to our feelings and destructive inclinations by the grace of God. Only the God-given power of hope for the other, for the enemy, rooted in the faith we have of God’s love for ALL and the fidelity of His love for US that we can begin to truly desire, pray and work for reconciliation with our enemies and persecutors.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
Lord, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from all evil. Amen.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!