Be Reconciled; Make Friends

Matthew 5:21-24

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire. 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.

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 1)

In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes the commands of the law and shows how they provide a blueprint for a way of being fully, genuinely, gloriously human (43).

Jesus offers two remarkably specific and practical commands. Be reconciled; make friends. How simple that is—and yet how hugely different and costly (44).

All this is, of course, impossible. That is, it’s impossible until you look at Jesus. . . . Jesus himself refused to go the way of anger. Instead, he took the anger of his enemies within Israel, and of Israel’s enemies, the Romans, on to himself, and died under its load. From that point on, reconciliation is not simply an ideal we must strive for. It is an achievement, an accomplishment, which we in turn must now embody (45).