How is Your Heart?

Read Matthew 5:21-26

I read a blog where the author was puzzled about some things that Jesus said. I tried to leave a comment, but I couldn't because I no longer have a WordPress account. But I wanted to tell her she was puzzled due to the Bible translation she was using. A whole verse had been left out of her translation which was why she was confused. If things don't make sense or don't add up, that's when I check to see what's missing.

This brings me to today's text, which is part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:21-26 may be hard to process if you read a modern Bible translation. It may even make you feel like you are a horrible Christian if you get angry. Why? Critical words are missing that explain what Jesus really meant. What is left out in the NIV, NLT, and the NASB, for example, is the following:

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment (Matthew 5:21-22)."

Did you catch that? "Without a cause." In modern translations, this crucial phrase is left out and says:

"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment."

In modern translations, if you are angry with someone, you are in danger of the judgment. In the more trustworthy versions like the KJV, however, you are only in danger of judgment if you are angry without a cause. 

Jesus compares the feeling of anger or rage that leads to murder as being the same as the act of murder itself. For murder, the judgment was laid out in the Torah, Leviticus 24:17 - whoever takes a human life will be put to death. In the NIV, by leaving out three words, the implication is that anyone who is angry with another will be subject to the same judgment as one who commits murder. One allows me to be angry without the risk of judgment, and the other says I can't get mad at all. 

To be clear then, Jesus DID NOT say that if you are angry, you will be subject to the same judgment as one who murders. He DID SAY you WOULD NOT be subject to judgment if you had a good reason for your anger. This is backed up by Jesus Himself when in his justifiable anger, he trashed the temple by driving out the money changers (John 2:13-17). He had a good reason for his anger. His holy temple was being turned into a thieves' den.

So what did Jesus mean by this verse?:​

"And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire." Matthew 5:22b

First, we need to find out the meaning of "Raca." Translated, it was an Aramaic word of utter contempt, signifying "empty," intellectually rather than morally. So basically, if you called someone Raca, you were calling them empty-headed. You were attacking their intellect rather than their value as a person. The consequence for doing that was to be taken before the Sanhedrin (Jewish ruling authority) for slander or libel. However, if you called someone a fool, that was much worse because you were attacking their value as a person, someone God created. So, basically, you were telling God that what He made was of no value. Hence the reason why you would be in danger of hell fire. 

For the people of Jesus' day, the word hell (derived from Gehenna) reminded them of the Hinnom Valley. It was in this valley where human sacrifices were offered to the pagan god Molek. Eventually, it became a perpetually burning garbage dump, where trash was burned, and the corpses of criminals were discarded. Jesus described hell as a place of torment (Lk 16:23), destruction (Mt 10:28) and eternal fire (Mk 9:43), where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 13:50; Lk 13:28).

So calling someone a fool in Jesus' day implied they were worthless enough that they should be thrown away and discarded like a corpse thrown into the Hinnom Valley. Words in Jesus' day had meaning, and they still do today, so be careful how you use them.

So what do we learn from all this? How do we apply these principles of dealing with anger to our lives? Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:23-26 - if you know your brother has something against you (angry with you), be reconciled to them. It was so important to be reconciled that Jesus told his followers to not even leave an offering to God until that was taken care of first. In other words, don't let your anger fester. Be reconciled with your adversary before things get out of hand and you end up in prison. Something to take to heart in an age of differing opinions. If you read a Twitter feed on anything from mask mandates to abortion, you will see hate and anger spewing from stranger to stranger because they disagree with each other. This should not be happening, especially among Christians. And yet that is what I see happening today. 

Jesus effectively demonstrates to his followers that sin begins in the heart. The desire to harm another with words is just as bad as physically harming them because God looks at the intent of the heart. You may think your comments have no impact on another, but they do, and ultimately you will be justified or condemned by what you say (Matthew 12:37).​