Reading: Matthew 5: 21-26
Please change your mind to the shape of a child's so that you can understand the Word that God has for you today.
The Sermon on the Mount is a beautiful preaching that Jesus Christ pronounced, it is believed, on the mountain now known as the Mount of the Beatitudes. In this precious preaching, Jesus left us solid foundations to build our life and to change our perspective of it. I want, with this series of devotionals, to draw the attention of each one of you to the importance of the application of this beautiful preaching for our daily life, a preaching that is as valid today as it was when it was first taught:
Jesus and anger:
It is normal to get angry. It may be that we are in times of work stress, or going through economic difficulties; It may be that we are living a difficult family moment or that someone simply makes us angry because of their attitudes or words; It is impossible not to get angry, in fact, the Bible teaches us to be angry, but to avoid sin.
What does this mean? How can we get angry and not sin? If we read the portion of the Bible that corresponds to this theme, we will find how Jesus gives us some very important foundations that, very often, we forget.
At this point in the sermon on the mount, Jesus begins with a series of contrasts between the commandments that the Israelites received in the Law of Moses against their teaching. It is at these points that we find a vivid image of what it means that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.
For example, in this passage, Jesus shows how the Law of Moses taught that we can not kill. Certainly we all agree that killing is bad; The problem is that the interpretation we give to this commandment is that we can do everything we want against someone as long as we do not kill him. Jesus fills this "legal vacuum", teaching with total clarity that it is not enough not to kill, nor can we keep anger in our hearts against someone, or insult him or tell him that he is foolish or foolish. This not only applies to those who like us, but to those who do us wrong; not only applies to fair situations but also to unjust ones.
Honestly, how many times do we get angry with someone? How many times do we insult him in our mind? How many times are our comments full of anger against that person? How many times do we talk behind his back and express how "silly" we are? Does that person look like? I'm sure this is more everyday than we think and the worst thing is that we do not think it's wrong, either because everybody does it, because it's the way the world expresses itself or because we have not crossed any limits like fighting, curse or kill.
We must reexamine our limits, because Jesus puts an even tighter limit than did the Law of Moses by telling us that we should not get angry against someone, hold a grudge in our hearts or let our anger lead us to insult him in any way, be deserved or not.
Jesus goes on to say that it is useless for us to give offerings to God if we are angry at someone. This means that God does not want us to serve him in the church, to help charities, to dedicate our time to his service, to give our money to the needy or to the church if our heart is filled with anger against someone.
This does not mean that we should not do these things, but it means that we should do them with a clean heart so that God may welcome our offering in time, effort or money.
Lastly, Jesus draws our attention to the importance we must give to this matter. We must seek to be well with that person with whom we are displeased while we are on this path of life, because life changes and no one has insurance tomorrow. Today there are many ways to communicate and we should take advantage of them to seek peace with all people.
We must be careful and reverently afraid, because if in the Law of the Old Testament there was judgment for the one who murdered; Now, with the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, the greater punishment will be for one who speaks ill of his neighbor and gives free rein to his wrath.
GOD BLESS YOU
"Blessed is the man who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
He was not in the way of sinners,
Neither has he sat down in the seat of scoffers;
But in the law of the Lord is his delight,
And in his law he meditates day and night.
It will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
That bears fruit in its time,
And his leaf does not fall;
And whatever he does shall prosper"
Psalm 1: 1-3
