Hatred As Murder

Matt. 5: 21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment (krisis, justice).'
22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother (adelphos, neighbor), 'Raca (spit, "idiot," heaping contempt on someone),' is answerable to the Sanhedrin (the court). But anyone who says, 'You fool! (immoral person)' will be in danger of the fire of hell (gehenna, full punishment, fires of ultimate justice).

To paraphrase: Of old, it was said murderers deserve justice. But if you are simply angry with someone else, you are no different. If you malign someone as an idiot or as stupid, you belong in court yourself. If you decide someone is in folly or immorality, you fail to see that you are in the same condition.

These verses come from the Sermon on the Mount. This entire "sermon" is really a set of teachings in which Jesus expands on the law of Moses and the ten commandments. He takes the behavioral aspect of the commandment and stretches it to motives - just the act of thinking about doing something wrong. So this teaching is like a sword piercing down to our motivations about why we do things. It exposes the deepest flaws in human character - the hidden, darkest areas of our human nature.

This teaching also really leaves nothing uncondemned. There is no human alive who can qualify after this examination. So we have to have something else to justify us before God. This exposes all human hypocrisy. We're all in this boat together, and Jesus came to visit.

We're all familiar with the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." It's primary religious education for all monotheists and, likely, all pantheists, too.

Apparently, the motive for killing is hate and anger. It starts there in these deepest recesses of the human psyche. At some time in our lives, we've probably all said to someone, "I wish you were dead," or "I hate you." Many of us harbor all kinds of prejudices. We despise people for a whole laundry list of reasons: skin color, cultural differences, education level, how much money they have, religious beliefs or lack thereof, political persuasions, and so on. All of this despising leads ultimately to all kinds of conflicts. This is evil. And apparently God isn't liking it. He doesn't want us killing each other. He doesn't want us to even hate other people. He tells us to "love our enemies." If he tells us that, he too has to love his enemies. And all available data says he does.

How many times and in how many ways do we call others fools and imbeciles? In fact, we find it humorous (think, Three Stooges). In that case, we are laughing at our folly - we all are potential fools. And that's the point Jesus is making.

Jesus is telling us to rise above the fray (as much as possible). "As much as lies in you, be at peace with all men," says Paul.

How does this translate into real-life application? If this is true, the church has strayed far from this teaching. How do we love our enemies, and seek peace with everyone no matter what they believe, and stop calling everyone who disagrees with us an idiot or immoral person. Instead, we have gone so far as to try to wipe them out or control them in a quest to build a "Christian" habitat on this earth. I think Jesus is saying here (and elsewhere) that he is against theocracy.

I wonder what would happen if the church actually grasped what Jesus is saying here. What if we applied it, and actually learned how to make peace instead of constantly cooking up wars among ourselves and with the world around us.