Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 5-6.

Today’s passage contains the centerpiece of Jesus’ teaching.  It contains enough material to blog on for days.  However, I am going to write about something which I have never thought about the way it struck me today.  That is not quite true, it crossed my mind several times, but I just went on and dismissed the thought as unimportant.  Today I realized that it is important, and that I cannot recall anyone taking note of it.  So, Jesus talks about being angry at people as being as great of a sin as murder, and then says “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled t them; then come and offer your gift.”  Or, if you realize that someone is angry with you, drop everything, no matter how important, and go make it right with them.  And why does He say you should do that, because being angry with someone is just as bad as murdering them!  But wait, He doesn’t say, “Because being angry is so bad, go and resolve things with those YOU are angry at.”  No, He says, “Because being angry is so bad, if you know that someone is angry at YOU, go and resolve things with them.”  He doesn’t say to make it right if it is your fault. He says, make it right, no matter whose fault it is.  Now, we could easily make the mistake of thinking that if we are angry at someone, it is their job to come to us and make it right and that it is OK for us to stay angry with them until they do so.  But that doesn’t work because Jesus has just gotten done saying that being angry with someone is the same as having murdered them.  So, it comes down to this: if you are angry at someone and hold on to that anger, you are sinning.  On the other hand, if you know someone is angry with you, or think they might be, and you do not go and try to make peace with them, you are sinning.  Or, to put it more generally, if you realize that someone sins because of you, you should strive to change either your behavior, or how they view you.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.