Commandment Number 6

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. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.   (Matthew 5:21-26)

"Commandment number 6 of 10?  Oh, I'm good there.  Finally something easy from Jesus; I don't plan on murdering anyone anytime soon."  I wonder if people of Jesus' day had those similar thoughts because I know they're present day ones.  We all like to know of those areas where we're doing OK on the righteous-ometer.  But then about every time we start to get comfy, Christ takes things and pushes them into us a little further.  He drives what was out in front of us on an ink-stained page right on in to our hearts, telling us that things like anger and insults are murderous as well.  Jesus did this because we needed it done to us.  He didn't come so that we could find out that we were obeying a law or two; He came so that we could have rich and full life in Him which meant pulling out the gunk inside.

Just a moment or two of really thinking about it brings us to that place of listening more intently with the realization that, yes, being stirred up in our hearts with bitterness toward others is poisonous in nature.  It's poison for our own soul and literally hellish in the end.  But then we would have to agree that it's highly impractical as well because holding onto it with some proud and puffed up spirit on the way into a court room may end up being our ticket into a place like prison!  Sometimes Jesus did this with His message; He took the outward consequence of an inward issue to show just how much we needed heart surgery.  The reasoning in this case goes like this: You might go to prison for ever...because you wouldn't humbly make things right with your fellow man...because you have a murderous heart.

But then in the middle of this whole deal Jesus says something to Christians today, ones that might be just like you and I.  He tells us we're not hunky-dory with Him if we're not clean with others.  We can't go about our churchy activities at the "alter" when things are a mess with our neighbor.  Even if there are things hanging there that we don't feel we've done wrong or that we're holding onto stuff against them, He tells us that it's so important we have clean relationships with others that we should approach someone who we sense has something against us--things are to be just that fresh and clear.

So there it is again.  Jesus gives us words for the rock-like foundation we're to build our homes/lives on.  The one who seeks to have God and His way as the motivation for all things in life needs the heart change He calls for and offers through the One preaching this mountain-top sermon.