March 28, 2024

Thou Shalt Not Kill

Alone amongst the dead

Matthew 5:21-22 states:

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

In this passage, Jesus takes on something that is near and dear to our hearts—our anger.  Whether it’s the fact that we’ve gotten cut off in traffic, someone has wronged us or done us harm, but we refrain from acting on it, Jesus says that if you’re angry enough on the inside to want to kill the person, it’s as if you did it.

This acknowledges a well known truth—that murder rarely is a reaction, it’s something that brews.  Indeed, most things require a final tipping point, where the person has built up a lot of anger to the point that they can justify taking the life.

Now, granted, if you get calloused enough you can kill, but the point is not to get there.

Fortunately, God provides not just the problem, but also the solution.  Ephesians 4:26 tells us to not let the Sun go down on our wrath.  This parallels Jesus teachings in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke where if a brother offends us, or we offend someone, we’re to get it right immediately.

If we would take the time to deal with our frustration, if we would show love instead of hate, we would find that we would be the different people that God wants us to be, and we’d bring glory to Him.

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