Matthew 5:21-26
Last week we began this new section of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus clearly defines “surpassing righteousness”. His final statement before this new section was “unless your righteousness surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. The next 27 verses will reveal that external righteousness done for man’s applause and to ward off God’s punishment is not righteousness at all, but that God looks upon the heart, He desires truth in our inward parts, love shown through obedience and delight in Him as our only true satisfaction and desire. He shows that surpassing righteousness is not settling for not being murderers but instead holding ourselves to a standard that won’t even allow anger to linger in our hearts. In Amos 7:7-8, the prophet had a vision from God, “Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, ‘Behold I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer.” This section of the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus putting a plumb line in the midst of His people, it is Jesus revealing true righteousness, revealing what the Kingdom of God is like, what the heart of the King is like and what the inhabitants of the kingdom are called to. A plumb line reveals what even the eye can’t see, it reveals what is crooked and what is straight, Jesus’ teaching and Jesus’ actions are our plumb line and in the verses we are reading today He sets the plumb line to our reaction to anger. Last week we saw that unrequited anger turns to insults and then leads us to give up on redemption, to actually believe that some are without hope and are bound for hell rather than to long for their salvation and intercede for their reconciliation. The reality of anger, as we spoke of it last week is that we are all affected by it but none of us were created to be controlled by it. We will experience anger but we have to learn how to respond to it in a righteous manner that glorifies God rather than a selfish manner that gives us momentary satisfaction at the expense of our hearts and those that feel the brunt of our outbursts, grudges and eventual bitterness. The great news in all of this is that Jesus never calls us to an expectation that He is not willing, able and ready to accomplish in our lives. The reality of anger is often not pretty, but along with the reality of anger Jesus presents to us a cure. You are not destined to live a life of anger, bound by your emotions and the consequences of that bondage. The cure for anger is found in three specific things that Jesus has given to us and that He desires from us: humility, forgiveness and joy. I pray today that each one of us will choose the gifts that Jesus has provided and that in choosing His gifts that we will desire His heart. God is not void of anger but His anger is always righteous and it desires redemption not self-satisfaction. The cure for anger does not remove it from our lives; it removes us from its control. Paul wrote “Be angry and sin not”. Humility, forgiveness and joy will not keep us from ever experiencing anger, they will keep us from being bound by anger and it will save others from being slaves to our temper. Ultimately, the cure for anger brings us freedom and reveals through us surpassing righteousness.