Jesus now doubles down on his proclamation (see previous blog) that our righteousness must exceed even the scribes and Pharisees if we are to enter the kingdom of heaven:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders shall 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” (Mt 5:21-22).
Whoa! Take careful note that “brother” does not mean only biological brother. I do not have a biological brother, but Jesus is talking to me, too. My brothers (and sisters) are my fellow believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. All of them, around the world.
So Jesus is defining disunity, at least in part, as anger, insults, and calling derogatory names against my fellow Christians. And he has a warning for me leading to judgment: my liability before God is just as deadly serious as it would be if I had murdered that brother or sister.
This seems impossible! How can I ever live up to a standard like that?
Now Jesus flips it around the other way, making it even harder to avoid judgment before God:
“So if you …remember that your brother has something against you…go…be reconciled to your brother…come to terms quickly…lest your accuser hand you over to the judge…and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny” (Mt. 5:23-26).
There is that phrase again: Truly, I say to you. This is important. Note that if my brother has something against me, it is up to me to reconcile with him, not the other way around!
But before I fall into hopeless depression, I must remember that Jesus is just introducing his ministry in the Sermon on the Mount. It will take his entire ministry and the ministries of the Apostles before we can truly understand.
For now, we rely on what we see and hear in and about the word of God:
“My faith is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ, his righteousness…” – a great old hymn of the church of Jesus Christ.
And why is it his righteousness that we seek?
Near the very end of the Bible in the Apostles’ letters, we are given this:
“My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
And what is an advocate? Joni Eareckson Tada puts it this way:
“Jesus, our advocate, would be generous enough in canceling the debt of our sin on the cross. But he went further. He not only paid the penalty and cleared sin’s slate, He gave us right standing, His right standing, His goodness. When the Father looks at you, He sees all the good things His Son has ever done.” 1 (My italics.)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches the core of what his ministry is about and why he came.
God’s standards are impossibly high.
But only because God doesn’t see us at judgment.
He sees only his beloved Son.
Be encouraged my brothers and sisters. And never stop striving for the best, a little better today than yesterday, in perfect unity with Jesus!
[1] Diamonds in the Dust, by Joni Eareckson Tada; Zondervan, 1993