The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day believed that they had kept the 6th commandment by not committing the gross external act of murder. In keeping with the penetrating and disorienting nature of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount so far, in Matthew 5: 21-26 Jesus proclaims that anger in the heart also qualifies as murder and that Christians are expected to transcend the claims of civil justice by being reconciled with the offended/ their offenders within the covenant community. Such behavior befits those who have been born of the Spirit and who know the reconciling mercy of God in Christ. To listen to this sermon, click here.
2013-11-20