After the Beatitudes at the beginning of Matthew 5, the rest of the chapter is filled with short snippets of texts that are very familiar to our ears. The first one that Jesus addresses is the topic of anger.

“You have heard it said…” That’s how Jesus introduces many of these topics. And for most of his hearers, they had heard it said. They would have been very familiar with the Mosaic Law, and for those who were part of the Council, the Sanhedrin, they would have been intimately familiar with it. They knew it frontwards and backwards. But they were missing the point.

Moses had given them this Law, and had done so while the nation of Israel was encamped around Mount Sinai, after the exodus from Egypt. But even though it came through Moses, he wasn’t the author… God was.

Jesus is about to turn their understanding of both the Law and its Author completely upside down.

He takes a phrase that they would have known well, “You shall not commit murder” (Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:21), and completely reinterprets it. Murder was wrong, God had told them so when the Law was given.

But Jesus then states, “But I say to you…” He gives a new understanding of the Law. And he does it with the forceful authority of the Lawgiver, God himself. His hearers, especially those in the religious council, would have heard both messages quite clearly: Jesus was giving them a new understanding of the passage, and he was claiming to be God in the process.

What does Jesus say about this passage? That not only is murder wrong, but the attitude that leads to murder is also wrong. He takes it from an external action and moves it into the realm of the heart. Now, it’s not just murder that is against God’s Law, it’s the anger that festers in our hearts and can lead to such actions.

Anger, and the expression of it in our lives, should be guarded against. Jesus says that even the term “raca” is to be avoided. This is a term of contempt, and means empty, or worthless, or even good for nothing. Such an attitude should be guarded against in our lives. Jesus says that it’s heavy enough to be brought before the highest of courts. And then he adds that calling someone a fool, deserves the punishment of Gehenna, or a “fiery hell.”

Why so forceful? Because Jesus knows that the actions we perform externally have their source in our hearts. And if we want to become more like Jesus, then we have to address the root issues, and not just the external portions of such things. That’s how important this is, and we tend to smile at this and then ignore it.

It’s such a deep heart issue that it even affects our worship. Jesus gives us some instruction here to help us make the next step. He says, “first be reconciled, and then come back to worship God” (Matthew 5:23-24). When we harbor hatred and anger towards another person, we are unable to offer acceptable worship to God. It’s that simple.

This passage from Matthew is a passage that we need to take to heart today. Our world is so divided, so offended, so angry. How can we blast our fellow man — on social media, or even in person — and then think that nothing is wrong when we go to church to worship God? How can we ignore such a vast discrepancy between these two areas in our lives?

I believe that if we are going to be effective in presenting Jesus to the world, then we need to get a handle on our anger.

So where do we start? Right here… With me. With you.

Question: How are you doing in the area of anger and your temper? Why is this such a trouble spot for most of us? You can leave a comment by clicking here.