Be Perfect When You’re Angry-Matthew 5:21-26

Be Perfect When You’re Angry (powerpoint) Be Perfect When You’re Angry (video). “…anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment…who says ‘Raca’…who says ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of…hell” (Mt 5:22). “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).  “…obey everything I have commanded you…” (Mt 28:20).

Moses prohibits murder but Jesus prohibits anger (Mt 5:21-22). Jesus all but lays down a universal prohibition of anger.

• Should we never get angry (since Jesus got angry)?
• Can you truly be angry (perfectly) like Jesus?
• Did Jesus sin when he was angry?
• Do you sin when you get angry?
• Is your anger governed by the character and nature of God (Matthew 11:29)?

What/who makes you angry? You remember when someone is angry with you. You also remember when you were angry with someone else. Once a friend chewed me up in anger over an incident that I felt was unjustified. In anger I retaliated. I was very upset at being verbally attacked. But I was even more upset that I responded in anger, lost control of myself and escalated the situation. I resolved after the incident that I want to never allow anger to get the better of me again. Anger is such a strong mostly negative emotion with horrible consequences–breaking up marriages, families, friendships, churches, companies, corporations, nations and results in acrimony, animosity, murder, political strife and war. That’s why Jesus says with all seriousness that “…anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Mt 5:22). Jesus is telling Christians not to get angry–which if genuine and from the heart–is something that we cannot do on our own. So what do we do?

Originally, I planned on preaching one overview sermon on Matthew entitled Be Perfect and Obey Everything. But “everything” is too much. So we’ll have several sermons from Matthew to Get Jesus Right (1/6/19) and to See Jesus More Clearly beginning with “Be Perfect When You’re Angry” in three parts:

1. Jesus’ redefinition of murder  (Mt 5:21-22)
2. Jesus’ exhortation to reconciliation  (Mt 5:23-24)
3. Jesus repeats the exhortation to reconciliation with a warning  (Mt 5:25-26)

Be perfect. Perfection is impossible and obedience is shunned. But in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus commands his disciples (us Christians) to be perfect and obey everything. How do we Christians obey what seems impossible? Jesus tells his disciples to “be perfect [teleios]…as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). Here Jesus “fulfills” the Law by demand of a righteousness that “exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees” (Mt 5:20). Matthew is probably reflecting on an urgent debate in his time concerning the interpretation of Torah. Perhaps responding to charges from the “Pharisees” (representing Judaism) that Christians are antinomians, Matthew insists that it is Jesus—not the Pharisees—who truly instructs his followers to do what the Law requires. What does it mean to “be perfect”?   “Be perfect, that is, love both your fellow Jewish neighbors and the Roman enemies in your midst … as your Father makes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on all humans—Jews and Romans—so you are to be perfect in love as your Father is perfect in love.” Scot Mcnight, Sermon on the Mount, The Story of God Bible Commentary.

Be perfect–a radical righteousness of the heart. Jesus asserts that he has come not to abolish the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them (Mt 5:17–20). The SOTM elaborates on this. The six antitheses of 5:21–48 (“You have heard that it was said…, but I say to you “) explicitly contrasts the authority of Jesus to the authority of traditional understanding of the Law. Rather than read the Law’s requirements as rules that fixes the standard of righteousness, Jesus points to a more radical righteousness of the heart, intensifying the demand of God far beyond the letter of the Law.

• The Law forbids murder and adultery; Jesus calls for the renunciation of anger and lust.
• Be perfect when angry
• Be perfect sexually
• The Law regulates divorce and revenge; Jesus calls his followers to renounce them altogether.
• Be perfect in marriage
• The Law limits the obligation of love to the neighbor (i.e., the fellow Israelite); Jesus calls for love of enemies.
• Be perfect in love

Jesus probes behind the Scripture into the intent of God:

• Jesus quotes from the Bible  (Mt 5:21; Exo 20:13; Dt 5:17)
• Jesus interprets, extends, or counters that quotation  (Mt 5:22)
• His opposition is against how that Scripture has been interpreted  (Mt 5:21)
• Jesus probes behind the original Scripture into God’s mind  (Mt 5:21-22)
• Jesus reveals what that intent is and how his followers are to live  (Mt 5:23-26)

I. Jesus’ redefinition of murder  (Mt 5:21-22): Do not be angry with one another. Jesus prohibits anger.

Jesus reveals a fuller expression of God’s will for God’s people; Jesus deepens the Torah. God’s prohibition of murder is the surface expression of a deeper divine intent: God’s people are not to be angry at one another. If one masters one’s anger, murder will never occur. Anger was not taken as seriously in the OT as Jesus takes it, nor was murder deepened to anger as Jesus does here.

Jesus redefines murder. Jesus probes into what is behind murder, namely, desire/anger (Mt 5:22a). He expands on “angry with” into specifics: calling someone “Raca” (Aramaic word for “empty head”, a word of contempt-NIV footnote) and/or calling someone a “Fool!” (Mt 5:22b). The consequences are judgment, the court and “the fire of hell (Gehenna, a valley south of Jerusalem that had been a place of divine judgment).” Jesus knows anger leads to murder, so he prohibits anger and spells out consequences for the “crime of anger.” Anger was never on par with murder, but Jesus sets his own ethical code in the context of entrance into the kingdom of God. He threatens his followers with divine judgment for anger. This is an Ethic from Beyond established by the Messiah, who reveals God’s truth for the kingdom community.

Moses prohibits murder but Jesus prohibits anger. In Mt 5:22, Jesus all but lays down a universal prohibition of anger. Some suggest this is a radical almost utopian, absolute prohibition of every and any kind of anger. Others suggest it is hyperbolic in order to get his disciples away from the justification of anger in their culture. A third perspective could be called a kingdom-perspective view (an Ethic from Beyond).

• “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools” (Eccl 7:9).
• “Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper–it only leads to harm” (Ps 37:8, NLT).
• “‘In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Eph 4:26).
• “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling (harsh words) and slander, along with every form of malice” (Eph 4:31).
• “But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty (filthy, obscene) language” (Col 3:8).
• “Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires” (Jas 1:20, NLT).

Should we never ever get angry since Jesus got angry? Can we truly be angry like Jesus? Did Jesus sin when he was angry? Do we sin when we get angry? Isn’t our anger often if not close to always a response to someone or something that is not governed by the character and nature and response of God. Thus to respond with proper godly anger requires a transformation of the heart by God.

II. Jesus’ exhortation to reconciliation  (Mt 5:23-24): Reconciliation trumps worship.

Is the prohibition of anger merely hyperbolic rhetoric? No, It is a foretaste of kingdom realities. And nothing expresses kingdom realities more than reconciled relations. The core expression of God’s love for us is in the covenant: “I will be your God and you will be my people” (Jer 31:33). It is the covenant God makes with Abraham, Moses, David–and then in its complete form through Jesus. We are to live out that covenant with others, beginning with family, the people of God and in connecting ways with everyone we know and meet (so far as possible).

Reconciliation trumps worship. Because Jesus prohibits anger, he offers counterbehaviors that illustrate what it means to live beyond anger and in reconciled relations with others (Mt 5:23-24) Reconciliation trumps even the sacredness of offering a sacrificial gift in the temple. Jesus didn’t say “if you have something against someone else,” but if someone “has something against you” (Mt 5:23). Jesus wants his followers to be aware of our own anger and the anger of others so as to live radically reconciled lives. The exaggerated temple scenario, with its instruction to drop the sacrifice right there at the altar, illustrates the importance of living in reconciled relations.

III. Jesus repeats the exhortation to reconciliation with a warning  (Mt 5:25-26)

Settle matters quickly. If a disciple of Jesus is being sued, instead of trusting matters to the court, he is to take matters into his or her hands and work for reconciliation–and to do so “quickly (Mt 5:25). Why? Because the judge will have his way and the process of justice may lead to prison. The aim opens the verse “settle matters” (Mt 5:25a), a word which in Greek means “to make friends with,” “to be well disposed toward someone,” or “to be in agreement with someone.” In this context, it could suggest becoming friends with someone, but more likely to see it as “come to agreeable terms with.” This illustrates the centrality of reconciliation with others by appealing to an extreme situation: Jesus is for reconciliation, even if it means interrupting sacred actions and legal judgments.

Be intentional about reconciliation until it becomes a pervasive lifestyle. Reconciliation is not likely to be something that happens to us, as it is something we pursue. It is far too easy to ponder reconciliation of monstrous problems and dismiss them. How about pondering a day-to-day pursuit of peace and reconciliation in our own relations. The monstrous global issues flow out of local and personal issues.

References:

1. Mcnight, Scot. Sermon on the Mount, the Story of God Bible Commentary. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2013.
2. Wright, N.T. Matthew for Everyone. Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, KY.  2002.
3. Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament: community, cross, new creation: a contemporary introduction to New Testament ethics. Part One, 4. The Gospel of Matthew: Training for the Kingdom of Heaven. HarperCollins Publishers, NY. 1996.

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Teacher. Mark presents Jesus as a self-sacrificing servant (Mk 10:45) while Matthew highlights Jesus’ role as the authoritative teacher of God’s people. Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ divine authority and as teacher who possesses all authority in heaven and on earth (Mt 28:18) by virtue of the resurrection. With Jesus as a teacher, the church is a community being taught—the meaning of the word “disciples.” The “great commission” is a mandate for Jesus’ disciples to teach: “Make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). Matthew is not interested in getting converts. Jesus summons people to join a disciplined community of Jesus’ followers who put his teachings into practice. One cannot follow Jesus except by becoming part of the community that he trained to carry out his mission in the world. That is why all nations—not just Israel—should be taught by his disciples to obey his commandments (Mt 28:19-20).

The wise obey Jesus. Matthew incorporates almost all (95%) of Mark’s Gospel but in five places he inserts in Mark’s outline extensive blocks of teaching:

• 5:1–7:27: Sermon on the Mount
• 10:5–42: The Twelve sent out (1-15); Sheep among wolves (16-23); Warnings/encouragements (24-31); Jesus causes division (32-42).
• 13:1–52: Parables (Sower, Weeds, Mustard Seed and Yeast and their explanation).
• 18:1–35: The greatest, causing to stumble, wandering sheep, dealing with sin, forgiveness.
• 23:1–25:46: Warning against hypocrisy, Seven woes, Destruction of the Temple, 10 virgins, Talents (bags of gold), Sheep and Goats.

At the end of these five sections, Matthew states, “When Jesus had finished these words…” The image of Jesus as authoritative teacher dominates Matthew’s Christology and is ensured by placing the Sermon on the Mount (SOTM) at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. At the conclusion of the SOTM, “the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Mt 7:28–29). To know Jesus rightly is to acknowledge his authority by obeying his word (Mt 7:21–23). Those who obey Jesus’ teachings are like the wise man who built his house on rock, and those who disobey are like the foolish man who built his house on sand (Mt 7:24–27). While Matthew retains Mark’s material of following Jesus’ example by taking up the cross, Jesus’ distinctive role in Matthew is more didactic: he becomes the “one teacher” who supplants all other rabbis (Mt 23:8) by expounding the Torah in a new and authoritative way.

Not moral perfection or obeying rules but a transformation of character and of the heart. Matthew’s rigorous summons to moral perfection is not a call to obey a comprehensive system of rules. Despite emphasizing obedience to Jesus’ commands, the deeper goal is the transformation of character/the heart. Jesus’ teaching—using the language of law and commands—creates the paradoxical tension between duty and obligation and that his message of the coming kingdom transforms everything, including those who live by rules and laws. While rules and commandments provide an orderly structure for life, Matthew regards actions as growing organically out of character.

One hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing (Mt 6:3). In Jesus’ great parable of the final judgment, the “sheep” who inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world did not even know that their actions were serving Jesus: they were simply bearing fruit, giving expression to the goodness of their character. How is this related to Matthew’s emphasis on obedience to Jesus’ words? Action flows from character, but character is not so much a matter of innate disposition as of training in the ways of righteousness. Those who respond to Jesus’ preaching and submit to his instruction will find themselves formed in a new way so that their actions will, “naturally” be wise and righteous. They learn to live faithfully.