The Law and the Prophets (Part 2 Final)

D. A. Carson explains:

There is a place for burning with anger at sin and injustice. Our problem is that we burn with indignation and anger, not at sin and injustice, but at offense to ourselves. In none of the cases in which Jesus became angry was his personal ego wrapped up in the issue. More telling yet, when he was unjustly arrested, unfairly tried, illegally beaten, contemptuously spat upon, crucified, mocked, when in fact he had every reason for his ego to be involved, then, as Peter says, “he did not retaliate; when he suffered he made no threats.”20 From his parched lips came forth rather those gracious words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”21 22

Jesus went on to give an illustration of what it means to live beyond anger and in reconciled relations with others.

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

This illustration makes the point that reconciliation with another is more important than the sacredness of offering a sacrificial gift in the temple.23 Considering that Jesus spent most of His time preaching in Galilee, telling someone to leave their gift at the altar—which was in Jerusalem—and to reconcile with his brother who was most likely in Galilee, He was suggesting they do something that would have required about a week of travel! This reflects the importance Jesus placed on having a right relationship with others and taking decisive action, as needed, to repair such relationships.

Jesus followed with another illustration:

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

In Jesus’ day, a person who didn’t pay his debts could be thrown into debtors’ prison until the money owed was paid. In saying “come to terms with your accuser before you go before the judge,” Jesus was stressing the urgency and importance of personal reconciliation, of finding peace in our personal relationships.

Scot McKnight wrote:

I am thinking we would do better to ponder the ordinariness of Jesus’ examples: immediately suspending what we are doing to find peace with our own relations. What comes to mind for me are the relations of husbands and wives, the relations of fathers and mothers to children, of sibling relations, and of the relations of neighbors and community members and those with whom we work. It is far too easy to ponder reconciliation of monstrous problems like those in Rwanda, than it is to ponder the day-to-day pursuit of peace and reconciliation in our own relations. Here’s the nub of the issue: we must be intentional about reconciliation for it to become a pervasive lifestyle. We must ponder those with whom we are not living fully reconciled lives, and those who may not even know that we are harboring bitterness and resentment. Reconciliation is not likely to be something that happens to us, as it is something we pursue.24

To summarize: In Matthew 5:21–26, Jesus gave the first of several examples of how the righteousness of those in the kingdom is to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. He tells His followers to avoid anger; and, when it arises, to let it go through reconciliation.

We should aim for health and wholeness among those in the kingdom.25

20 1 Peter 2:23 NIV.

21 Luke 23:34.

22 Carson, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, 44.

23 McKnight, Sermon on the Mount, 79.

24 Ibid., 83.

25 Talbert, Reading the Sermon on the Mount, 73–74.






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