“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.” (Matt. 5:21-22)
These words of Jesus should cut to the heart of every contemporary American Christian, indeed to the heart of every living human being. That is because what Jesus teaches is that the attitude of the heart, the words we speak matter to the Lord as much as our actions. This should cover everyone for it seems that there is a national epidemic of discourteousness and disrespect. Daily we are bombarded by inflammatory and hateful speech in the media from politicians and celebrities as well as those who air their grievances on social media. Due to the platform that social media provides, anyone can and does easily speak words of vitriol, anger, and hatred to people who do not agree with them, have the effrontery to tell them they are wrong, or worse, tell them they are sinners.
Jesus tells us here that these angry words and attitudes, even without actions, are sin. Those guilty of sin are bound for eternal destruction in hell. People may laugh at the thought of hell, poke fun at it or revel it the evil power that they think it represents but hell, according to Jesus, is a sure and certain punishment for all those who reject Him.
Jesus preaches reconciliation and forgiveness as the solution. We who are baptized into Christ ought to eschew all wicked and inflammatory speech and change our attitudes. We should seek to forgive and ask forgiveness, to be reconciled with those we do not like starting with our brethren in the Lord. And we should pray for wisdom for all, those we do not agree with, politicians who we deplore, and ourselves to be obedient and humble to the Lord. We should humbly curb our tongues. None of us is perfect so none of us can demand perfection in others. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, to fulfill the Scriptures, on our behalf, as He was the only one who was able to follow the Law to perfection. He fulfilled it with His life of righteousness, death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. When our hearts are right with God we will do what is right and in accordance with His will because He enables us to do so. And we will pray for and love those who do not share our opinions as well as those who reject Jesus that they will come to faith and the knowledge of the truth before it is too late. He has suffered hell for us all so that we do not have to.