Matthew 5:20-26 The Intent of the Law is Relationship

We started our discussion looking a few verses back so we understood where this text originated. Jesus was saying that he did not come to destroy or overthrow the law, but to show us how to follow it properly. Rob Bell confirms this in his book, Velvet Elvis, with an explanation of Jewish terminology about a rabbi telling a student who interpreted the law improperly that he has abolished the law. If the rabbi thought the student had understood God’s intention for the teaching, he would say ‘you have fulfilled Torah.’ So Jesus wasn’t getting rid of Torah, he was showing how to carry it out perfectly, down to the smallest component of it. In our text Jesus is teaching that some rabbi may have interpreted ‘thou shall not murder’ one way, but he interprets it another way. And he obviously disagrees with how the Pharisees have been following it.

Luther says that the way the religious leaders were following the law of ‘not murdering’ was by using a literal approach. You had to kill someone with your own hands to break this law. That’s why the chief priests thought they were not breaking the law when they turned Jesus over to be crucified. They weren’t killing him personally. The Romans were murdering Jesus.

Jesus said it’s not about the physical act of murder, it’s what brings a person to the point of wanting to harm another person – anger. And it appears there are three levels of anger described. One is anger without a cause. The next is to the point of calling someone ‘empty-headed,’ holding a contemptuous feeling for them – this made you subject to being sued for libel before the Sanhedrin. This might refer to a more religious connotation since it involved the religious council where one Jewish sect (or Christian denomination) distained another because they didn’t believe the same things. And the worst level was to call someone a ‘fool’, which meant you were accusing someone of hating knowledge (Prov. 1:22) and correction of any kind (12:1), who are quick to quarrel (20:3) and give full vent to their anger (29:11), who are complacent (1:32) and who trust in themselves (28:26) rather than God. (Ps. 14:1).

So what’s the intent of the commandment “do not murder?” Do not let your emotions get stirred up against anyone that makes you want to see harm come to them. Is this possible? According to Luther, not unless you are born again and have help. If you’re born again? That would mean there’s a lot of baptized people who aren’t ‘born again.’

In the next section, Jesus talks about not giving your gift at the altar until you have reconciled your anger/unpeace with your brother. Luther uses this as evidence that we can only honor or show love for God through loving our neighbor. Don’t think your gifts of time, talents, possessions do much to impress God if you are not at peace with your brother or sister. The intent of the law is to draw people into peaceful relationship with each other, and to live in disharmony with your neighbor is to be unreconciled to God.

All this shows that obedience to the law is something we cannot achieve – without help of the Spirit. And the law is focused on bringing people together, in relationship, rather than to separate groups from each other. Unfortunately, the law is used today to divide and build walls between people rather than to teach them what it means to love each other. How terribly we fail at interpreting the law the way Jesus did. Lord, have mercy. Blessings - PWM