The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is the first – and most famous – of five long speeches of Jesus recorded in Matthew’s gospel. The central theme of this discourse is life in Jesus’ kingdom. It teaches us how to live as followers of Jesus our King.
The central part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-48) consists of what scholars call six “antitheses” (opposites). In each case, Jesus makes a contrast: “You have heard…but I say…” Six times Jesus deconstructs how the Old Testament Law was taught and understood at the time in light of his own understanding. This makes sense in light of Matthew 5:17, where Jesus said, “I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law. First, everything in the Old Testament pointed forward to him. Second, as Son of God he has authority over the Law, and his interpretation is the final word.
The first issue Jesus raises, in Matthew 5:21-26, is murder. The Old Testament Law was clear about taking an innocent life. But what about the murderous thoughts and attitudes that lie beneath the surface in our hearts?
Murder is just the tip of the iceberg for anger – but there’s more that lurks beneath the surface.
Jesus opens by saying, “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’” This is true. The Ten Commandments forbid murder. But for Jesus, the issue is not limited to the outward action of taking a life. As serious as that is, he wants us to consider the heart issue that drives murder. Most of us will never commit murder. But we are very likely to experience anger, which Jesus reveals as the root emotion behind murder: “But I say to you, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!”
The basic impulse of anger is to make someone pay for their offense against us. Righteous anger is rare. Most often, our anger is a selfish response to being insulted or thwarted in some way. In response, we want to inflict pain ourselves by doing or saying something harmful to that person. Jesus gives two examples of this in Matthew 5:22.
The first is name-calling. “If you call someone an idiot, you’re in danger of being brought before the court.” This is above the surface because its consequences are visible. While murder takes away someone’s life, slander is related because it takes away their dignity and worth. We call it “character assassination” for a reason.
The second example is cursing. “If you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.” This is usually (not always) below the surface, because our hateful thoughts may never be openly expressed. But it partakes of the same attitude and intention as murder, violence, or slander. The same is true of other forms of inner anger, like passive aggression.
The key to victory over anger is to see yourself as the offender, not the offended.
In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus adds a surprising twist. If you’re worshiping at the Temple, and you recall that someone has something against you, Jesus says to go at once and make it right. We would expect him to say, “If you have something against someone…” But Jesus flips the script to remind us that anger and hate work both ways. Our first response will be concern over what someone has done to make us angry. But we rarely consider how we have raised up anger in someone else, or how our anger has wronged them. This is a radical principle of Jesus’ kingdom: to look first at things from the other person’s perspective, not just our own.
Again, Jesus gives two examples of this. When he says, “You suddenly remember that someone has something against you” (Matthew 5:23), the word “someone” is literally “a brother”. This implies someone you are in relationship with, perhaps another follower of Jesus. By contrast, in Matthew 5:25 he talks about “your adversary” who is taking you to court. In both cases, Jesus is speaking to his audience as if they are the offenders, not the offended.
The way of Jesus goes beyond anger to reconciliation – otherwise you’ll be the one paying the price.
Whether it’s a “brother” or an “adversary”, reconciliation is Jesus’ priority, because reconciliation rebuilds what anger destroys. In Matthew 5:23-24, he points out that reconciled relationships are far more important than outward acts of religious piety or worship. In Matthew 5:25, he underscores the urgency of reconciliation: “Settle your differences quickly.”
We have no control over how a person might respond to our reconciliation attempts. That’s why many people don’t even bother. But Romans 12:18 says that we must try: “Do all that you can to live at peace with everyone.” That may be hard, but when we seek to live at peace, we reflect the heart of Jesus, who sacrificed himself for us when we were God’s adversaries (Romans 5:1; Colossians 1:20).
We’ve seen that anger is often about making the other person pay. But Jesus ends this section with another twist when he points out that we’re the ones who ultimately pay for our own anger. If we don’t settle our differences with our adversary quickly, “You surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:26).
Here’s a sobering reality: our attitudes have consequences. No court of law ever punished someone for a crime of the mind. But God knows what lurks beneath the surface. Murderous thoughts and intentions expose us to God’s judgment (Matthew 5:22). In the next chapter, Jesus drives this home with even greater force (Matthew 6:14-15): “If you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Reconciled relationships are so important that unwillingness to forgive is a litmus test of the reality of a person’s faith.
So in this first antithesis, Jesus reveals the true direction of God’s law when it comes to murder. Of course, murder is wrong. But so is the heart behind murder. Anger is murder below the surface, because it reflects the murderous desire to make people pay for their offenses against us. But in Jesus’ kingdom, anger must give way to reconciliation.
